The Kano State Social Protection Agency has commenced a two-day knowledge-sharing visit to the Lagos State Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget to understudy the state’s development planning and social protection framework.
The delegation, led by the Director-General of the agency, Hajia Fatima Abubakar-Abdullahi, held an interactive session with the Lagos State Social Protection team, led by its Director, Mr Semiu Yusuf, at the ministry’s headquarters, Alausa, Ikeja.
The visit focused on Lagos’ experience in development planning, social protection coordination, data management, community engagement and citizens’ participation in the budget process.
Speaking during the engagement, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget, Olayinka Ojo, said the state remained committed to sharing knowledge and experience with other sub-nationals to promote sustainable development.
Ojo said Lagos had established structures to strengthen social protection coordination and improve development planning across the state.
She said the government created a dedicated Social Protection Coordinating Department after identifying the need for a coordinated approach to social protection interventions.
According to her, the department has developed into a functional structure with dedicated personnel and administrative processes covering accounting, procurement, media and social work.
The Permanent Secretary also highlighted Lagos’ approach to disaggregating data to enable government better understand the needs of communities and plan interventions accordingly.
‘It helps us to plan for the state in a disintegrated manner, that we leave no one behind,’ she said.
Ojo said the Lagos Development Plan provides a long-term framework for development across sectors, with milestones designed to guide government’s immediate, medium and long-term interventions.
‘We are very audacious about our plan,’ she said, adding that the framework was designed to guide government interventions and ensure sustainable development.
She identified economic growth, modern infrastructure and human capital development as key priorities of the state’s planning process.
The Permanent Secretary also stressed the need to build the capacity of civil servants, private-sector stakeholders, civil society organisations and community-based groups to participate effectively in the development process.
On citizens’ participation in budgeting, Ojo said Lagos had concluded consultations across its community structures to obtain residents’ priorities for the 2027 budget.
She explained that the requests gathered would be presented to accounting officers and heads of agencies ahead of bilateral budget discussions.
‘We want you to take cognisance of these things and make sure that a certain percentage of your budget takes care of these things,’ she said.
Ojo stated the role of Community Development Committees (CDCs) in reaching residents, obtaining feedback and supporting social protection activities, including updating social protection registers and fresh registration.
Speaking on the purpose of the visit, Abubakar-Abdullahi said the agency was seeking practical knowledge from Lagos as it develops its institutional structures and operational systems.
She said the Kano agency, established in the previous year, was relatively new and needed to learn from states with established social protection systems.
‘We came to Lagos to learn, to understand how you put your things in place, because Lagos is Nigeria,’ she said.
The DG commended the Lagos team for sharing its experience, describing the engagement as valuable to Kano’s efforts to build an effective social protection institution.
‘I’m really happy to be here, because your words, your experiences… you are full of knowledge,’ she said.
She said the lessons from the visit would assist Kano in strengthening its institutional structures, planning processes, community engagement and social protection coordination.
The two-day engagement is expected to further strengthen inter-state knowledge-sharing and provide the Kano agency with practical insights from Lagos’ experience in development planning and social protection.