What a Pro-Poor Nigerian Economic Policy Would Look Like

For decades, Nigerian governments have made economic policies that protect wealth, not people. They obsess over:

If your economic policy doesn’t work for the poorest Nigerian, it doesn’t work.

Development Expert, Abuja

• Attracting foreign investors

• Growing GDP

• Raising revenue

All while:

• 133 million Nigerians live in multidimensional poverty

• The middle class is shrinking

• The cost of living is unbearable

It’s time to ask a serious question:

What if Nigeria built its economy from the bottom up, not the top down?

Here’s what a pro-poor, people-first economic policy would actually look like.

1. 🥣 Subsidize Food, Not Fuel

We removed fuel subsidies overnight, claiming it was a waste.

But why not subsidize:

• Rice

• Garri

• Bread

• Tomatoes

• Cooking gas?

Why not support farmers, local food processing, and food transport to lower prices?

A pro-poor economy feeds its people first.

2. 🏥 Free Basic Healthcare for the Poor

The average poor Nigerian doesn’t go to the hospital, they go to the chemist and pray.

Meanwhile, billions disappear in:

• “Healthcare interventions”

• Medical tourism for politicians

A pro-poor policy would:

• Make child delivery free

• Cover malaria and basic emergencies

• Build and staff primary health centers in every LGA

Healthcare is not a luxury. It’s a right.

3. 🏠 Rent Control and Housing for the Working Class

Middle-class Nigerians are getting priced out of their own cities.
Low-income workers live 3 hours from their jobs or in slums.

Pro-poor reform means:

• Rent control in urban areas

• Mass low-cost housing schemes

• Zero-collateral home loans for civil servants and artisans

Housing shouldn’t be a trap.
It should be a foundation for growth.

4. 👩🏽‍🏫 Free Public Education. With Skills That Pay

Today’s poor children are tomorrow’s prisoners or hustlers.
Why? Because they’re out of school, or in schools with:

• No desks

• No teachers

• No future

We must:

• Invest in public schools

• Provide free uniforms, meals, and transport

• Focus on literacy, digital skills, and trades

Education is the most powerful pro-poor policy on earth.

5. 💼 Direct Job Creation for the Unskilled

We can’t tell the poor to “go and learn tech” when they’re trying to survive the day.

Create:

• Road maintenance brigades

• Community sanitation workers

• Government-run cooperatives for farming, tailoring, welding, bricklaying

These jobs may not be glamorous, but they are:

• Dignified

• Scalable

• Life-saving

The poor don’t need lectures. They need opportunities.

6. ⚖️ Tax the Rich Fairly, and Use It for the Poor

Right now:

• The poor pay VAT on every sachet water

• The rich evade tax with foreign accounts and shell companies

True reform means:

• Closing tax loopholes for elites

• Taxing luxury goods

• Using that money for rural infrastructure, education, and welfare

Justice begins with who pays and who benefits.

7. 🧼 Clean Up Corruption at the Bottom, and the Top

The poor face:

• Bribes at checkpoints

• “Tips” to get documents

• Police extortion

But who steals billions?
Not the market woman. Not the okada rider.

We need a dual strategy:

• Remove petty corruption with digital governance

• Prosecute elite looters, not protect them

Pro-poor governance is clean governance.

8. 🔌 Affordable Energy for Households and Small Businesses

The poor spend more on candles, kerosene, and fuel than some CEOs spend on power bills.

If we really want growth, power must reach:

• Welders

• Hair salons

• Charging centers

• Barbershops

• Frozen food sellers

How?

• Solar mini-grids for rural areas

• Tiered pricing that favors low-income users

• Incentives for small energy cooperatives

No power, no progress.

9. 🛡 Social Safety Nets That Actually Work

We’ve heard of TraderMoni, NPower, conditional cash transfers…
But did they reach the real poor? Sustainably?

A better alternative:

• Community-based targeting systems

• Cash support for the elderly, disabled, and unemployed

• Transparent digital delivery, with tracking

If your government doesn’t protect the vulnerable, who will?

10. 🛣 Build From the Bottom Up, Not the Top Down

Don’t start with billion-dollar railways - start with feeder roads to villages.
Don’t build more airports - build toilets in public schools.
Don’t host summits - host town halls.

A pro-poor economy isn’t about slogans. It’s about priorities.

Final Word: Poor People Are Not a Problem.. They’re the People

We must stop seeing the poor as a burden.
They are workers. Mothers. Fathers. Voters. Citizens.

Any policy that ignores them is not a national policy, it’s elite self-interest.

Let’s rebuild an economy where:

• The poor eat

• The middle class thrives

• The rich contribute

Because a country that forgets its poor, forgets its soul.