President Bola Tinubu has launched five coordinated social and development programmes worth about $3.05 billion as part of his administration’s efforts to reduce poverty, improve healthcare, strengthen education and support vulnerable communities across Nigeria.
The programmes include the Nigeria Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus Additional Financing (NG-CARES), the Solutions for Internally Displaced Persons and Host Communities (SOLID) initiative, and the Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity (HOPE) package, made up of HOPE Gov, HOPE PHC and HOPE Edu.
Represented by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, Tinubu said the programmes would ensure that recent economic reforms deliver real benefits to Nigerians at the grassroots.
“This is not just a set of programmes; these are promises kept. On our Renewed Hope Agenda, we came into office pledging to reform our economy, secure the nation, and invest in our people. Today, we act on that pledge; protecting the vulnerable, empowering communities, and building the human capital that will carry Nigeria forward,” the President said.
Tinubu explained that NG-CARES would receive about $1.25 billion in additional World Bank financing to support smallholder farmers and small businesses, while SOLID would receive $300 million to assist internally displaced persons and their host communities.
He added that the $1.5 billion HOPE package would improve governance, primary healthcare, education and teacher support.
According to the President, “These five programmes are not separate efforts. They are one coordinated national strategy for poverty reduction, human capital development and community resilience. Livelihoods, healthcare, education, social protection, and support for displaced communities reinforce one another where it matters most – at the grassroots.”
Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, described the intervention as a coordinated government response to the rising cost of living and poverty.
He said, “These programmes have been carefully designed as strategic programs to reduce the impacts of the cost-of-living crisis that the world is witnessing, particularly as a result of the downstream challenges of the Ukraine-Russia war as well as the Middle East war, which have affected energy prices.”
Minister of Health and Coordinating Minister of Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, said the HOPE PHC programme would improve access to quality healthcare for about 40 million Nigerians. He disclosed that more than 3,000 primary healthcare centres had already been upgraded to Level 2 status, with another 1,000 close to completion, while over 69,000 frontline health workers had been trained.
Minister of Education Tunji Alausa said the HOPE Edu programme would benefit nearly 30 million children in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory by supporting 65,000 public schools and 500,000 teachers.
“Education remains the biggest investment any responsible government can make for its citizens. And this is where the president is doing exactly that,” he said.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr. Bernard Doro, said the initiatives showed that “no Nigerian, however remote or displaced, is beyond the reach of this government’s care.”
The launch comes shortly after the World Bank reported that despite improvements in Nigeria’s economic indicators following Tinubu’s reforms, about 79 per cent of Nigerians remain poor or vulnerable to poverty.
While the Bank acknowledged that the reforms had strengthened economic stability, it said the benefits had yet to significantly improve the living standards of most Nigerians, stressing that large-scale job creation and stronger social protection remain essential to lifting millions out of poverty.
