Index to Nigerian Newspapers

FG Allocates below 1% of 2026 Budget to Fight Poverty

The Federal Government plans to spend about N206.50bn on poverty alleviation-related projects in the 2026 budget, an amount that represents far below one per cent of the total N58.47tn spending proposal submitted to the National Assembly.A review of project-level data from the 2026 Appropriation Bill shows that all items directly tagged to poverty alleviation across ministries, departments, and agencies, as well as the Service Wide Vote, add up to N206.5bn.When measured against the proposed total budget of N58.47tn, this translates to about 0.35 per cent of overall federal spending for the year. When compared with the capital budget of N23.21tn, the poverty-related envelope represents roughly 0.89 per cent.The Federal Ministry of Women Affairs headquarters has N14m for an end-period-poverty campaign, while the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation has N20.3m for the establishment and activities of the National Council on Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction.Both PwC and the World Bank caution that without targeted interventions such as job creation, productivity improvements, and effective social protection programmes, reducing poverty levels in Nigeria will remain a major challenge. Rising poverty, they warn, could also weaken domestic consumption, limit productivity growth, and place additional pressure on public finances.

Tunji Sami | Federal Government-Allocates Budget-Poverty Alleviation | Punch Newspaper | Monday, January 19, 2026