The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has reported that 85.2 percent of Nigerians lack effective social protection coverage, leaving the vast majority of the population exposed to poverty, economic shocks, and other vulnerabilities. This means that only 14.8 percent of Nigerians are effectively covered by social protection, highlighting a major gap in the country’s efforts to protect vulnerable households and workers from economic hardship.
ILO Country Director for Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, Dr. Vanessa Phala, disclosed this information at the National Social Protection Statistics Dialogue and Data Collection Engagement in Abuja. The event was organised by the ILO, in collaboration with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), European Union (EU), and UNICEF. Phala stressed that the 14.8 percent coverage figure represented more than a statistic, with millions of Nigerians struggling without adequate protection against economic shocks.
Phala emphasized that closing the gap required government and stakeholders to move beyond broad estimates and develop a comprehensive statistical system. This system should be capable of identifying those covered, those excluded, and areas where social protection interventions are most urgently required. She noted that effective policy decisions could not be based on assumptions, and reliable, timely, and disaggregated data was essential to improving social protection delivery.
The ILO, through the European Union-funded Supporting Sustainable Social Protection Systems in Nigeria (SUSI) project, is partnering with the NBS to strengthen the generation, coordination, and use of social protection statistics. The initiative, which initially covered Abia, Benue, Oyo, and Sokoto states, is being expanded nationwide to the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. This aims to equip state statistical institutions to collect, analyze, and harmonize social protection data.
The exercise will support the production of a national Social Protection Statistics Bulletin to expose coverage gaps, guide resource allocation, and improve interoperability among state registers, the National Social Register, and other social management information systems. Phala added that policy choices must be grounded in precise, reliable, and timely data, and that every state directorate of statistics should be equipped with the technical tools to gather, analyze, and harmonize social protection data.
Statistician-General of the Federation, Mr. Semiu Adeniran, noted that the dialogue was taking place at a time when Nigeria’s social protection landscape was undergoing significant transition. The government is taking steps to strengthen national ownership, coordination, financing, and delivery of social protection and poverty-reduction interventions. Adeniran emphasized that the NBS has a responsibility to ensure that government reforms and programmes are supported by reliable, timely, comparable, and disaggregated data.
The NBS is working to establish a Social Protection Management Information System (SPMIS) to bring together data currently held by different institutions and make it available in a coordinated and harmonized form for national and sub-national statistical production. Representing the Head of Human Development at the EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Chioma Osuji, emphasized that effective social protection planning was impossible without credible data, and that high-quality, timely, and disaggregated data was essential for sound policy and effective planning.
Key points
- 85.2 percent of Nigerians lack effective social protection coverage.
- The ILO is partnering with the NBS to strengthen the generation, coordination, and use of social protection statistics.
- A national Social Protection Statistics Bulletin will be produced to expose coverage gaps and guide resource allocation.
