Osun Residents hail EU over Act Naija Initiative, Call For More Platforms

Residents of Orisunbare Community in Osogbo Local Government of Osun State have commended European Union in Nigeria for creating a laudable initiative like ‘Act Naija! Which aimed to improve standard of Living of the poorest of the poor in the country.

This commendation came at the one day community outreach organized by the New Initiative for Social Development (NISD) in partnership with Brot fur die Welt and the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) under the Act Naija! co-funded by the European Union.

Speaking at the programme, a community Leader who also doubled as a Community Chairman and Baale Designate of Orisunbare community, Chief Hakeem Adeyemo described the community outreach under the Act Naija! as timely and informative which he promised to multiply its positive effect by creating awareness mechanisms across the community.

“I must admit that, this Act Naija! which gave birth to today’s community outreach has enlightened and broadened our knowledge as to what social protection entails therefore, we now have a reason to develop an open to heart to it and explore it to the maximum potential,

For this reason, I want to appreciate European Union for this opportunity at least to have remembered and counted our community worthy of this great privilege, I also commend other implementing partners such as New Initiative for Social Development (NISD), Brot fur die Welt and the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ). This knowledge you have impacted us is a seed which I assure you will continually to yield at our end”, he concluded.

The Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Officer of New Initiative For Social Development, Olusegun Ojo highlighted the importance of every stakeholder’s role and why they must participate as well as act well their part in the social protection process, adding that social protection is not a charity but a structured mechanism to empower citizens and facilitate their access to Government support schemes.

Earlier in his orientation session, the Environmental Officer from Osun State Operations Coordinating Units, Okunlola Omoniyi took the participants through available social protection programmes, registration eligibility criteria, access procedures and benefits of safety net programmes, stressing that so far, the Agency according to him has reached over 5,000 households but maintained that there is still room for more.

In her remarks, NISD State Programme Officer, Olaniyan Glory, explained that the Act Naija Project principally targeted households that often struggle to make ends meet, added that social protection initiatives seek to bridge the wealth gaps through awareness creation, networking, advocacy and community mobilization cum engagement.

She however used the medium to carry out an on-the-spot (OTS) assessment to know the effectiveness and level of people reached in the community, beneficiaries shared their testimonies and challenges at the community outreach in the same manner solutions were proffered immediately.