Federal Gov’t To Lift 50m Nigerians Out Of Poverty With N10trn Plan

The federal government has unveiled an ambitious plan to lift 50 million Nigerians out of poverty within five years, backed by a proposed N10 trillion poverty exit strategy to be implemented between 2026 and 2030.

The minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Bernard Doro, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja at a four-day National Technical Workshop themed “One Humanitarian – One Poverty Response System,” hosted by the United Nations (UN).

Doro said the initiative represents a major policy shift from fragmented interventions to a unified, system-driven approach aimed at delivering measurable outcomes.

He described Nigeria’s current poverty response framework as ineffective, noting that over 63 per cent of Nigerians face multidimensional poverty despite numerous programmes across government and development partners.

According to him, the problem is not the absence of interventions but the absence of a coordinated system. “Nigeria does not lack interventions. Nigeria lacks systems,” he said.

The minister identified key structural challenges undermining poverty reduction efforts.

These include fragmentation across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), weak coordination among federal, state and local governments and a lack of synergy with development partners and non-governmental organisations.

He also pointed to what he termed a “visibility crisis,” where government lacks accurate data on beneficiaries, locations of interventions and measurable outcomes.

Doro said the existing framework is plagued by siloed data systems, inefficient funding pipelines, duplication of efforts and widespread leakages.

“ The current system is broken. We have been managing poverty, not ending it. It is time for a paradigm shift,” he stated.

To address these gaps, the federal government is introducing the One Humanitarian – One Poverty Response System (OHOPRS) as a unified national platform.

The system is designed to integrate humanitarian relief, long-term development programmes and social protection initiatives into a single coordinated framework.

It will also align MDAs, state governments and development partners under one national system while tracking beneficiaries from vulnerability to self-reliance.

Doro explained that the framework will operate on four core pillars: a unified national register, a structured poverty exit pathway, a national coordination platform and a central data backbone described as a “single source of truth.”

Under the new system, all beneficiaries will be captured in a single database to eliminate duplication and exclusion, adding that “No more double dipping or missed targets. Every intervention will be tracked, and every beneficiary will have a clear pathway out of poverty,” he said.

In her remarks, the representative of the UN resident coordinator in Nigeria, Ms Elsie Atafua, highlighted the evolving nature of poverty across Africa. She said nearly 75 per cent of the world’s extreme poor now live in sub-Saharan Africa or in fragile and conflict-affected settings.

According to her, about 139 million Nigerians—roughly 62 per cent of the population—live in poverty, while between 33 million and 35 million people face acute food insecurity.

Atafua warned that rising food prices and economic shocks were forcing households to adopt harmful coping strategies, including reduced food intake and lower nutritional quality.