The Shared Prosperity Agenda for Nigeria, according to NESG, entails "achieving broad-based economic growth, creating jobs, reducing poverty and inequality, and ensuring socioeconomic prosperity for all Nigerians". Meanwhile, a cursory look at the current state suggests that Nigeria needs to achieve shared prosperity as it has one of the worst socioeconomic indicators globally. Thus, achieving shared prosperity will remain a mirage unless social programmes are robust and functional.
A functional and robust social protection system is one that is consistently run on a large-scale basis by successive administrations at all levels of government, accessible to many beneficiaries, and adequate in terms of public goods provision. To this end, the Report proposes how functional social protection programmes could contribute towards achieving shared prosperity in Nigeria.
Key Highlights from the Report include:
Nigeria has one of the least social protection coverage rates in Africa and globally.
Nigeria has not equally fared well regarding the various forms of social protection.
Social protection coverage was limited in Nigeria before COVID-19 struck in 2020.
The weak pre-existing social protection system hampered the scale-up in coverage of the poor and vulnerable households supported during the global health crisis.
Nigeria's low social protection coverage rate before the COVID-19 outbreak is not unprecedented, as the country has one of the lowest social protection expenditures (excluding public health spending) in Africa.
The lack of adequate protection for the poor and vulnerable groups has made many Nigerians lose trust in the government and public institutions.
Adequate social protection confers a complete sense of belonging to the system on the poor and vulnerable groups, including children, persons with disabilities, and older people.
