Vice President Kashim Shettima has said the Federal Government’s ongoing reforms and development initiatives are aimed at lifting between 40 and 50 million Nigerians out of multidimensional poverty within the next decade.
Speaking at the Nextier Development Solutions Festival (DevFest2025) in Abuja — themed “Ending Poverty in Nigeria” — Shettima, represented by the Special Adviser to the President on Power Infrastructure, Sadiq Wanka, said the government’s “Poverty Exit Plan” rests on three pillars: investing in infrastructure, driving economic and financial inclusion, and transforming agriculture from subsistence to mechanised, value-driven production.
He cited positive indicators already taking shape, including:
- External reserves rising to $42 billion.
- Six consecutive months of inflation decline.
- Naira stabilisation under Central Bank policies.
- A 44.3% trade surplus increase in H1 2025, amounting to over N10 trillion.
Shettima disclosed that:
- Over N330 billion has been disbursed to 8.1 million households through Conditional Cash Transfers.
- The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has provided over N80 billion in loans to 400,000 students.
- The National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) has attracted over $1 billion to boost mechanisation and value addition in agriculture.
He emphasised early reforms like petrol subsidy removal and forex unification as bold but necessary steps to create fiscal space for investments. “The removal of the petrol subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange market were bold acts of economic surgery, essential to stabilise our nation and set it on a path of sustainable growth,” he said.
The Head of Delegation of the European Union to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ambassador Gautier Mignot, noted that poverty reduction must be driven primarily by sound domestic policies, adding that the EU has committed over €87 million to strengthen Nigeria’s social safety nets and resilience programmes alongside €150 million in humanitarian support to address food insecurity affecting 33 million Nigerians.
From the state level, Enugu’s Secretary to the Government, Professor Chidiebere Onyia, shared lessons from the state’s interventions in education, agriculture, and health aimed at moving from poverty reduction to eradication.
In his welcome remarks, Dr. Ndubuisi Nwokolo, Partner at Nextier Development Foundation, urged stakeholders to move beyond short-term fixes and embrace sustainable, evidence-based solutions. Patrick Okigbo III, Founding Partner of Nextier, echoed this call, stressing the need for partnerships, policies, and political will to end poverty.
With 40% of Nigerians — over 82 million people — still below the poverty line, stakeholders agreed that consistent policies, grassroots innovations, and international cooperation could set the country on a path to shared prosperity.
