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By Victor Osula, Abuja
The federal government has launched a $1 billion Renewed Hope social protection program, designed to move vulnerable Nigerians from temporary and palliative relief to sustainable economic empowerment, resilience and self-sufficiency.
The programme, unveiled on Wednesday at the Presidential Banquet Hall, State House, Abuja, includes the Social Protection for Family Prosperity and Empowerment Project (HOPE-SP), alongside four other initiatives aimed at strengthening the country’s humanitarian response and poverty reduction architecture.
The other initiatives are the One-Humanitarian-One Poverty Response System (OHOPRS), the Emergency Cash Transfer Programme, the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Ministerial Poverty Reduction Project, and the Humanity First magazine.
Speaking at the launch, First Lady Oluremi Tinubu said the initiatives were designed to improve how the government identifies vulnerable Nigerians and responds to their specific needs, particularly as the administration implements far-reaching economic reforms.
He said that while the reforms implemented by President Bola Tinubu’s administration were intended to strengthen the economy, lay the foundation for sustainable growth and promote shared prosperity, many families continue to face economic hardship and would need targeted support.
“Given the size of our population and available resources, many families still face challenges and need our collective support,” she said.
Ms Tinubu described HOPE-SP as a significant step towards improving the identification and support of vulnerable families. He said the project will not simply provide temporary assistance, but will combine immediate stabilization with measures designed to place beneficiaries on a path to recovery, empowerment and self-sufficiency.
“The Family Prosperity and Economic Social Protection Project is an important step towards strengthening how we identify and respond to vulnerable families facing various challenges by listening to their specific needs before acting. It is designed to provide immediate stabilization assistance, placing families on a path to recovery, empowerment and self-sufficiency,” he added.
Under HOPE-SP, approximately 7.6 million vulnerable households are expected to benefit from a one-time cash transfer in response to the ₦40,000 digital shock.
The federal government said beneficiaries would be drawn from the national social registry and validated using their NINs to improve transparency, reduce fraud and ensure assistance reaches genuine beneficiaries. The government is also working with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to facilitate NIN registration and strengthen the verification process.
The First Lady said the One-Humanitarian-One Poverty Response System would provide a coordinated national platform for humanitarian emergencies, social protection and poverty reduction.
According to her, the system should eliminate duplication of government interventions by creating unified national registers through which poor and vulnerable families can be identified, supported and monitored.
He said the emergency cash transfer program would provide rapid financial assistance to families affected by economic shocks, while the ministerial blueprint would translate the administration’s humanitarian and poverty reduction priorities under the Renewed Hope Agenda into measurable actions.
Ms. Tinubu also described Humanity First Magazine as an avenue to document the experiences of Nigerians whose lives have been transformed through government interventions.
He praised the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Bernard Doro, and his team for developing the initiatives, saying they have the potential to transform humanitarian interventions from temporary assistance into sustainable pathways to resilience and prosperity.
Doro said the initiatives represent a new national architecture for humanitarian intervention and social protection, with the government moving from reactive palliatives to proactive empowerment.
He said the administration’s economic reforms, including the removal of fuel subsidies and the unification of the foreign exchange market, were boosting government revenues and investor confidence, but added that vulnerable Nigerians must be protected from the effects of economic shocks.
The minister said that the government’s objective is to move from “reactive aid to anticipated social protection” and from simply managing poverty to reducing it.
According to him, fragmentation has been one of the major weaknesses of Nigeria’s social intervention system, with ministries, departments, agencies and different levels of government often running separate programs and databases. He said the situation had at times led to duplication, with some beneficiaries receiving multiple interventions while other vulnerable Nigerians were left without assistance.
Doro said the new architecture would therefore shift the focus from individual programs to families and from simply counting beneficiaries to measuring the impact of interventions.
Under the system, vulnerable families will be identified, their needs assessed and appropriate interventions provided. They will then be followed through what the minister described as a “gradual poverty path” towards economic inclusion and self-sufficiency.
The system will be supported by unified data, digital delivery infrastructure, new financing mechanisms and real-time poverty intelligence, while strengthening coordination between federal, state and local governments and development partners.
Doro said the One-Humanitarian-One Poverty Response System would create a single window for humanitarian and poverty alleviation interventions, ending government agencies’ practice of maintaining separate registries and data centers.
He revealed that existing databases will be integrated into a unified platform anchored by the National Social Register, which currently contains around 20 million households.
Beneficiaries, he said, would be tracked from identification and intervention through an exit mechanism and eventual transition to a growth registry, with a digital dashboard providing visibility into government interventions.
The minister also announced plans to establish a National Poverty Intelligence Laboratory, stressing that the success of government programs will henceforth be judged by the number of families protected, economically included and ultimately lifted out of poverty, rather than by the quantity of materials distributed.
Doro later revealed that the federal government had disbursed more than ₦600 billion in cash transfers to vulnerable Nigerians over the past three years.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme, hours after the launch, he said the interventions had reached just over 10 million households.
“We have made over P600 billion in cash transfers to be able to support vulnerable Nigerians within three years. We have reached just over 10 million families,” he said.
Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, said effective social protection requires a comprehensive approach involving federal, state and local governments, as well as development partners and other stakeholders.
Bagudu said the administration’s ambition to build a trillion-dollar economy by 2030 must be accompanied by deliberate efforts to ensure that economic opportunities and the benefits of growth reach Nigerian citizens at the grassroots.
He cited the administration’s Neighborhood Development Initiative covering 8,809 neighborhoods across the country, saying it was intended to identify factors driving poverty and exclusion at the community level and transform neighborhoods into centers of prosperity and inclusion.
The minister said the government was also increasing budgetary focus on peace, security and critical elements of social protection to prevent Nigerians from falling into poverty due to national and global economic shocks.
He noted that international developments, including the Russia-Ukraine war and instability in the Middle East, have had consequences for families and economies globally, underscoring the importance of effective social safety nets.
Bagudu said Nigeria already has substantial resources and programs dedicated to social protection and poverty eradication, including a World Bank portfolio of about $6 billion.
He, however, stressed that better coordination is needed to maximize the impact of resources and programs available at the federal, state and local levels.
Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum, welcomed the initiative, saying it could help address some of the social and economic conditions that contribute to insecurity in the country.
Zulum, whose state has endured prolonged humanitarian challenges arising from the insurgency, identified poverty, illiteracy and social inequality among the factors that could fuel the insurgency and other crises. He argued that military action alone could not permanently resolve the country’s security challenges without addressing their social and economic dimensions.
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