World Bank: Only 44% of Social Interventions Reach Poor Nigerians
By Hajara Abdullahi
A new report by the World Bank has revealed that social safety net programs in Nigeria fail to effectively reach the poor masses despite billions of naira spent by the government.
The report, titled “The State of Social Safety Nets in Nigeria” and obtained by Punch Newspaper on Tuesday, disclosed that only 44% of total government interventions reach the poor and vulnerable.
According to the Bank, 56% of poor Nigerians are beneficiaries of safety net programs, but they receive only 44% of the total benefits due to imbalances arising from the allocation of a fixed amount per household rather than per individual.
“For each programme category, the share of benefits going to the poor is lower than the share of beneficiaries who are poor,” the report stated.
The World Bank further noted that Nigeria spends just 0.14% of its GDP on social interventions—far below the global average of 1.5%—adding that the current level of spending has had little to no impact on poverty reduction.
In September 2025, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy announced that the Federal Government had disbursed ₦330 billion in cash transfers to 8.5 million households in the first tranche under the National Social Safety Net Programme. However, despite this claim, inflation coupled with corruption has severely limited the program’s impact.
The report further clarified that programs such as the National Social Nets Programme disburse small amounts per household, noting that poor households are typically larger, which means the money is divided among more members.
For instance, a family of eight in a rural village receives the same amount as a family of three in a semi-urban area, even though the former faces greater hardship. Other schemes, such as the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme—which targets individuals rather than households—only cover pupils in primary one to three and a limited number of schools.
The World Bank expressed concern over Nigeria’s heavy reliance on foreign aid to finance its social safety nets, noting that between 2015 and 2021, about 60% of federal spending on development programs came from international partners. The Bank itself provided over 90% of the support during that period and warned that such dependence places Nigeria at significant risk.
