The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to strengthening coordination among humanitarian interventions and expanding social protection programmes aimed at reducing poverty, insecurity, and humanitarian challenges across the country.
The Honourable Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr. Bernard M. Doro, made this known during a courtesy visit by a delegation from Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFinA) to the Ministry’s headquarters in Abuja.
Doro said the Ministry operates an open-door engagement framework designed to foster collaboration among government institutions, development partners, civil society organisations, and the private sector to improve service delivery to vulnerable Nigerians. He described poverty as one of the country’s most pressing challenges, noting that multidimensional deprivation in healthcare, education, housing, food security, and livelihoods continues to persist.
He further explained that insecurity, displacement, conflict, and climate-related shocks have worsened humanitarian conditions, placing significant pressure on emergency response systems and long-term development planning. According to him, poverty and insecurity are closely linked, as unemployment and deprivation increase vulnerability to crime and instability.
The Minister highlighted ongoing reforms under the Ministry’s “One Humanitarian and One Poverty Response System,” aimed at harmonising interventions across agencies, eliminating duplication, and improving efficiency, accountability, and impact. He noted that fragmented interventions, weak data integration, and uncoordinated social registers have limited effective targeting of beneficiaries, stressing that the challenge is not a lack of interventions but poor coordination.
Doro added that the new framework would strengthen institutional collaboration, improve data integration, and establish unified delivery systems to ensure transparency and reduce leakages. He also called on development partners, donor agencies, civil society organisations, and the private sector to sustain support for a more coordinated humanitarian and social protection architecture in Nigeria.
Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer of EFinA, Mrs. Foyinsolami Akinjayeju, noted that although financial inclusion in Nigeria has risen to about 74 percent, largely driven by digital payments, it has not yet translated into strong financial resilience for many citizens.
She identified gaps in savings culture, insurance uptake, pension participation, and access to affordable credit, particularly among women and rural populations. She advocated a shift from access-driven financial inclusion to meaningful usage, supported by stronger digital public infrastructure and improved coordination among regulators, financial institutions, and development partners.
The meeting was attended by senior officials of the Ministry, including Valentine Ezulu and Janet McDickson, alongside members of the EFinA delegation.
