The Kogi state government has disclosed that it has started registering the poor and vulnerable impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic so they can access the emergency social interventions’ support.

Asiru Idris, the commissioner for finance, budget, and economic planning, who disclosed this in Lokoja, advised Kogi indigenes to take advantage to get themselves registered.

The commissioner added that the government would sensitise the people toward the success of the programne.

He advised the citizens to respond to messages on their phones and get registered.

Mr Idris emphasised that the programme known as Rapid Response Register was designed as a shock response framework by the National Social Safety Net Programme (NASSP) in collaboration with the World Bank to cushion the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He added, “The RRR is, therefore, a subset of the National Social Register (NSR) and State Social Register (SSR) but only deployed for emergency circumstances and interventions.

“In Nigeria at large and Kogi in particular, the economic impact of the pandemic has been felt mostly by urban and semi-urban dwellers, many of whom lost jobs, businesses, and consequently incomes.

“Although Kogi remains the safest state so far. But the global economic downturn, due to the pandemic, has brought enormous hardship on our people.”