Nigeria launches Poverty Intelligence Lab

Nigeria has launched the National Poverty Intelligence Lab, a data-driven platform aimed at strengthening the targeting, monitoring, and evaluation of poverty-reduction programs. Unveiled by Dr. Bernard Doro, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, the initiative seeks to address the plight of an estimated 140 million Nigerians living below the poverty line. The Nigeria — Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, in partnership with Innovations for Poverty Action, organized a workshop in Abuja to operationalize the lab. This platform is designed to serve as the central intelligence and evidence-gathering hub for the government's anti-poverty interventions, moving away from assumptions and fragmented approaches to a system anchored on data, evidence, and accountability. The lab will support the One Humanitarian One Poverty Response System (OHOPRS) to harmonize various assistance programs and ensure coordinated efforts to permanently lift vulnerable households out of poverty. This initiative is seen as a governance and accountability reform to improve transparency and effectiveness in poverty reduction efforts, aligning with President Bola Tinubu's administration's commitment to sustainable measures for improving living conditions in Nigeria.