The Federal Government has launched its $1 billion Renewed Hope Social Protection Program to support vulnerable Nigerians and help households move from short-term assistance towards economic empowerment and self-reliance.
First Lady Oluremi Tinubu unveiled the initiative on Wednesday at the Presidential Banquet Hall, State House, Abuja.
A key component of the programme is the Household Prosperity and Empowerment Social Protection Project (HOPE-SP), which is designed to improve the identification of vulnerable households while providing immediate support and opportunities for economic recovery.
Speaking at the launch, Mrs Tinubu described the initiative as an important step towards improving how government identifies and responds to the needs of vulnerable families.
“The Household Prosperity and Economic Social Protection Project is an important step towards strengthening how to identify and respond to vulnerable households facing various challenges by listening to their specific needs before taking action.”
She also highlighted the One Humanitarian, One Poverty Response System, which is intended to coordinate humanitarian assistance, social protection and poverty-reduction efforts nationwide.
According to the First Lady, the system will reduce duplication of interventions and support unified national registries that track vulnerable households as they progress towards economic stability.
7.6 Million Households Targeted
The HOPE-SP initiative is expected to cover about 7.6 million vulnerable households nationwide. Eligible beneficiaries are expected to receive a one-time digital shock-response cash transfer of ₦40,000.
The government said beneficiaries will be selected through the National Social Register and verified using their National Identification Numbers (NINs) to improve transparency and ensure assistance reaches qualified households.
Authorities are also working with the National Identity Management Commission to make NIN registration easier and strengthen the verification process.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Bernard Doro, said the programme would take a more deliberate approach to tackling poverty by monitoring households and measuring their progress towards economic independence.
“We have a system where we want to deliberately track poverty,” Doro said.
He added that the initiative would improve coordination between humanitarian interventions, social protection and poverty-reduction programmes while putting vulnerable households at the centre of government assistance.
FG Reports Over ₦600bn in Cash Transfers
Doro also revealed that the Federal Government had distributed more than ₦600 billion in cash transfers to vulnerable Nigerians over the past three years.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today after the programme’s launch, the minister said the intervention had reached slightly more than 10 million households.
“We’ve done over 600 billion in cash transfers to be able to support vulnerable Nigerians within three years. We have reached slightly over 10 million households,” he said.
Zulum Links Social Protection to Security
Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum said the new programme could help tackle some of the social and economic conditions contributing to insecurity.
He identified poverty, illiteracy and social inequality as factors that can fuel insurgency and other crises, arguing that military action alone cannot permanently resolve such problems.
“The kinetic measures alone will never end the insurgency. Addressing the social, economic, and political dimension of the crisis is synchronous to addressing insecurity challenges in Nigeria,” he said.
The Federal Government said the new framework would build on existing cash-transfer reforms while introducing a more targeted and accountable approach to supporting vulnerable households and helping them transition from dependence to sustainable economic participation.
