The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has revealed that a staggering 85.2 per cent of Nigerians are without effective social protection coverage. This leaves the vast majority of the population exposed to poverty, economic shocks, and other vulnerabilities. According to the ILO, only 14.8 per cent of Nigerians are effectively covered by social protection.
ILO director for Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Liaison office for ECOWAS, Dr Vanessa Phala, warned that the figures represented millions of real people struggling without adequate protection against economic shocks. She stressed that closing the gap would require government and other stakeholders to move beyond broad estimates and build a comprehensive statistical system.
Dr Phala was speaking at the national social protection statistics dialogue and data collection engagement in Abuja. She said effective coverage in Nigeria stands at 14.8%, and behind this figure are real families, including mothers, workers in the informal economy, persons with disabilities, and children who remain vulnerable to economic shocks.
The ILO, through the European Union-funded Supporting Sustainable Social Protection System in Nigeria (SUSI) project, is partnering with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to strengthen the generation, coordination, and use of social protection statistics. The initiative aims to equip state statistical institutions to collect, analyse, and harmonise social protection data.
The project initially covered Abia, Benue, Oyo, and Sokoto states but has now been expanded to all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. This expansion is critical because national statistics must capture realities at state and local government levels if Nigeria is to properly understand regional disparities and measure the reach of social protection programmes.
Stronger subnational data will also improve Nigeria’s reporting on Sustainable Development Goal indicator 1.3.1, which measures the proportion of the population covered by social protection systems, including vulnerable groups. The engagement will also pave the way for the production of a national bulletin on social protection statistics.
The European Union delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS also emphasised the importance of credible data for effective social protection planning. The EU is supporting social protection initiatives through several development partners, highlighting the need for reliable data to guide government resource allocation and improve interoperability between state registers and social management information systems.
Key points
- 85.2% of Nigerians lack effective social protection coverage.
- ILO partners with NBS to strengthen social protection statistics.
- EU supports social protection initiatives through several development partners.
