The Federal Government has unveiled a unified poverty reduction framework backed by a proposed ₦3.2tn financing plan, as it moves to address longstanding coordination gaps across humanitarian and social intervention programmes.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr. Bernard Doro, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja at a workshop on the One Humanitarian – One Poverty Response System (OHOPRS), describing the initiative as a shift from fragmented interventions to a coordinated national system.
Doro admitted that previous poverty reduction efforts had been weakened by poor coordination among ministries, departments, agencies and development partners, leading to duplication, inefficiencies and limited impact.
“We have been managing poverty, not ending it. It is time for a paradigm shift,” he said.
He further stressed that the problem was not lack of intervention but lack of structure.
“Nigeria does not lack interventions; what we lack is a system that brings everything together for measurable impact,” he added.
He noted that despite significant investments, the absence of a unified structure had created gaps in identifying beneficiaries, tracking interventions and measuring outcomes.
“There are clear blind spots — in who we support, where we intervene, and what results we achieve. That is the visibility crisis we must solve,” Doro said.
He added that over 63 per cent of Nigerians were living in multidimensional poverty as of 2022, describing the figure as unacceptable.
Under the new framework, the government proposed a ₦3.2tn pooled financing model combining contributions from multiple sources, including ₦1.5tn from the Federal Government, ₦800bn from development partners, ₦600bn from the private sector, and ₦300bn from climate and global funds.
The minister said the model is designed to align funding under a single national system, reduce waste and improve efficiency in targeting beneficiaries.
“We are moving to one system, one register and one pathway a single source of truth that ensures no duplication and no exclusion,” he said.
As part of the plan, vulnerable households are expected to receive livelihood support of up to ₦700,000 per household, alongside access to digital financial services and microenterprise funding to promote self-reliance.
Doro added that the initiative would create a structured pathway to move beneficiaries from vulnerability to economic stability.
“We are not just providing support; we are creating a clear exit pathway from poverty to productivity and long-term growth,” he said.
He reiterated that the government’s target is to lift 50 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030, adding that the new system would ensure real-time tracking and accountability of interventions.
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs, Dr. Yusuf Tanko Sununu, said the new system would address inefficiencies caused by isolated operations of government agencies and non-governmental organisations.
“This system is designed to align efforts across sectors and agencies to ensure a coordinated response to the multiple crises affecting communities, including conflict, displacement and economic hardship,” he said.
He noted that the absence of coordination had led to duplication of interventions and poor resource utilisation.
“With a unified response plan, data can be consolidated for proper planning, execution, phasing and tracking of interventions. This will significantly improve efficiency and reduce wastage,” Sununu added.
On his part, representative of the World Bank Country Director, Lire Ersado, identified weak coordination and inadequate domestic financing as major challenges limiting the effectiveness of poverty reduction programmes in Nigeria.
“We are not well coordinated in the humanitarian-development nexus. We run parallel systems in identifying beneficiaries, targeting support and monitoring impact, and this reduces efficiency,” he said.
Ersado noted that although Nigeria has one of the largest social registers in Africa and a growing digital delivery system, most social protection programmes are still heavily dependent on external funding.
“If you ask me, most of the flagship social protection programmes are externally financed. We need a nationally owned and nationally funded system,” he added.
He warned that multiple programmes operating in silos had weakened impact, stressing the need for stronger alignment under a government-led framework.
The Federal Government said the new system would harmonise existing programmes, improve accountability and strengthen data-driven decision-making, but concerns remain over funding sustainability and whether the initiative will succeed where previous poverty reduction programmes
