President Bola Tinubuon Thursday launched a sweeping $3.05 billion suite of federal programmes targeting smallholder farmers, displaced communities, and Nigeria’s battered human capital sector, in what the administration billed as the operational engine of its Renewed Hope Development Plan (2026–2030).
On the President’s behalf, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, formally unveiled five interlocking initiatives: the Nigeria Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus Additional Financing, NG-CARES AF; the Solutions for Internally Displaced and Host Communities Programme, SOLID; and a three-pronged Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity package covering governance, HOPE-GOV, primary healthcare, HOPE-PHC, and basic education, HOPE-EDU.
“These are not just programmes. They are promises kept,” Tinubu declared in the address. “Today, we act on that pledge — protecting the vulnerable, empowering communities, and building the human capital that will carry Nigeria forward.”
Framing the launch against the backdrop of what he described as an emerging economic rebound, the President cited real GDP growth of 11.2 per cent and nearly 10 per cent per capita income growth in dollar terms in the previous year, foreign reserves crossing the $50 billion mark, and a sharp retreat in inflation from its 2024 peak.
But Tinubu conceded that macroeconomic gains have yet to translate into kitchen-table relief for millions of Nigerians — a persistent political vulnerability for his reform agenda since the removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the naira in 2023.
“Robust growth is returning. Confidence is rising. But that progress must be felt in every household, not just in national statistics,” he said. “Real prosperity means no Nigerian is left behind on our journey to a US$1 trillion economy by 2030.”
The administration says its expanded cash transfer scheme has already reached 15 million vulnerable households and lifted an estimated 7.5 million people out of poverty — figures the new programmes are designed to build upon.
THE $3.05 BILLION BREAKDOWN
At the centre of Thursday’s rollout is a World Bank-backed financing architecture:
– NG-CARES AF — $1.25 billion to support smallholder farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises, extending the community-level economic stimulus programme launched during the pandemic era.
Also Read: World Bank projects poverty in Nigeria despite growth
– HOPE — $1.5 billion, described by the President as the government’s “flagship investment” in human capital. The programme’s three arms will strengthen primary healthcare, improve foundational learning in public schools, support teachers, and push governance reforms down to the ward level.
– SOLID — $300 million to bridge humanitarian relief and long-term development for internally displaced persons and their host communities, with investments in infrastructure, livelihoods, and basic services — a nod to the protracted crises in the North-East and parts of the North-West.
“This is how we rebuild not just homes, but hope,” Tinubu said of the SOLID initiative.
Officials pitched the package as a single coordinated strategy rather than three parallel schemes, anchored on what the President called a “ward-centric approach” that aligns federal, state, and local government around service delivery at Nigeria’s smallest administrative unit.
“Livelihoods, healthcare, education, social protection, and support for displaced communities reinforce one another where it matters most: at the grassroots,” Tinubu said.
He commended the Ministers of Budget and Economic Planning, Education, and the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare for driving the design, and called on state governors — operating through the National Economic Council — to shoulder the implementation burden.
“NG-CARES succeeds through your implementation. HOPE succeeds through your commitment to reform. SOLID succeeds through your engagement with communities,” he told sub-national leaders.
The unveiling arrives at a delicate moment for the Tinubu presidency, which has staked its legacy on reforms whose short-term costs — inflation, fuel prices, and a weakened naira — have squeezed household budgets even as headline growth numbers improve.
By packaging cash-transfer-adjacent farmer support, IDP stabilisation, and frontline health and education spending under one banner, the government is effectively betting that visible, ward-level delivery over the next three years can lock in political support for the Renewed Hope agenda through the second half of the decade.
“We are building a Nigeria where extreme poverty is banished, where every child has access to quality education and healthcare, and where every community can withstand adversity and recover stronger,” Tinubu said. “That is our vision. That is our promise.”
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