The Tinubu Media Support Group says President Bola Tinubu’s $1 billion social protection programme was carefully planned, not a hurried response to opposition rhetoric.

The group said it developed the Renewed Hope Social Protection Programme (HOPE-SP) over several months following a presidential directive.

In a statement jointly signed by its chairman, Emeka Nwankpa, and secretary, Dapo Okubanjo, on Tuesday, TMSG described claims that the initiative was a panic-driven response to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s economic proposals as misleading.

According to the group, the programme was designed to provide sustainable economic support to vulnerable Nigerians, rather than temporary palliatives.

It said the initiative was developed against the backdrop of economic challenges arising from fuel subsidy removal and exchange-rate reforms.

TMSG said humanitarian minister Bernard Doro and his team had worked on the programme since November 2025. It said the development followed a presidential directive and could not have been assembled within days of Atiku’s economic plan.

The group acknowledged that HOPE-SP was launched about one week after Atiku unveiled his economic recovery plan, but said timing did not imply causation.

It said the programme incorporated beneficiary tracking and progress measurement, demonstrating that it was designed as a comprehensive poverty-reduction architecture.

TMSG also recalled that the administration had implemented a cash-transfer programme that benefited about 10 million vulnerable households over the past three years.

The group said the World Bank had also raised concerns about gaps in Nigeria’s social protection system, particularly the reach of government-funded interventions. It said only 44 per cent of government-funded social protection schemes were reaching intended beneficiaries, according to concerns previously raised by the World Bank.

TMSG said HOPE-SP, alongside a recently unveiled World Bank-backed $3 billion programme, represented a broader strategy for reducing multidimensional poverty. It said the new architecture would track beneficiary households and measure their progress towards economic inclusion and self-reliance.

The group expressed hope that the anti-poverty initiatives would achieve greater impact when state and local governments fully key into the programme. It said coordinated implementation across the country’s 8,809 wards would help transform vulnerable households and promote sustainable livelihoods.

TMSG commended Nigerians for their resilience and patience in supporting ongoing economic reforms and urged them to remain discerning and resist attempts by political actors to misrepresent government policies ahead of the 2027 elections. 

(NAN)