The World Bank has lamented that Nigeria spends barely 0.14 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on social protection.
This is contained in a new report titled The State of Social Safety Nets in Nigeria, where the bank revealed that the 0.14 per cent estimate is far below the global average of 1.5 per cent and the Sub-Saharan African average of 1.1 per cent.
The report warns that the miniscule allocation has had “almost no impact” on poverty.
The combined effect of all existing social protection programmes in the country has reduced the national poverty headcount by just 0.4 percentage points, it noted.
The November 2025 report examines Nigeria’s spending on social safety nets, assessing their coverage and efficiency, and reveals how poor targeting, weak funding, and fragmented implementation have left millions of vulnerable citizens without meaningful relief despite the government’s lofty poverty-reduction promises.
Business Post reports that the federal government has spent billions over the years to cushion hardship with initiatives like cash transfer programme which it claims has reached 15 million households. Other schemes, like the school feeding programme only cover a limited number of schools.
The World Bank report says these Nigeria’s social safety-net programmes are failing to reach those who need them the most.
According to the bank, while about 56 per cent of the recipients of safety-net programmes are poor, they receive only 44 per cent of the total benefits. It explained that this imbalance stems from the way most programmes, including the National Social Safety Nets Programme (NASSNP), allocate a fixed amount per household rather than per person.
As a result, poor families, often larger in size, end up sharing limited benefits among more members. The report noted that initiatives such as the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), which focus on individuals rather than households, are less affected by this problem.
However, it added that the school feeding scheme currently targets only pupils in grades one to three and lacks full national coverage, restricting the number of children who can benefit.
The World Bank also expressed concern over Nigeria’s heavy dependence on foreign donors to finance its social safety nets. It examined that between 2015 and 2021, official development assistance accounted for about 60 per cent of federal spending on safety-net programmes, with the World Bank providing over 90 per cent of that support.
The report cautioned that this dependence puts Nigeria at risk of funding gaps whenever donor support declines.
“There is an urgent need for Nigeria to find fiscal space for sustainable social safety-net programming,” the bank warned.