UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR
The Federal Government has commenced moves to mobilise private investment worth $10 billion over five years to rebuild livelihoods, create jobs and stimulate economic activity in communities affected by displacement and fragility across Nigeria.
The initiative, being developed in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), development finance institutions and the private sector, is expected to shift the response to displacement from predominantly humanitarian assistance towards sustainable livelihoods, enterprise development and private-sector-led economic recovery.
The proposed Leadership Alliance for Enterprise, Acceleration and Prosperity (LEAP) will initially target 10 states affected by displacement and insecurity, with the Federal Government seeking to develop a model that can eventually be replicated across the country.
Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, disclosed the government’s readiness to support the initiative when he received a UNHCR delegation led by its Representative in Nigeria, Mr Arjun Jain.
Bagudu said displacement was not simply a humanitarian challenge but an economic problem capable of destroying livelihoods, weakening local markets and deepening poverty if affected populations were not quickly reintegrated into productive economic activity.
“Displacement, by its very nature, involves disruption. When people are forced to leave their communities, whether because of natural disasters or insecurity, their economic activities are automatically interrupted,” he said.
According to him, displaced people frequently lose access to farms, fishing grounds, livestock and other productive assets, making the restoration of livelihoods central to any sustainable reintegration programme.
He said returning displaced persons to their communities without restoring their economic capacity would leave the underlying problem unresolved.
“The objective is therefore clear: the $1 trillion economy we aspire to build must be inclusive and create opportunities across communities”, Bagudu said.
The minister said the Federal Government was prepared to use public resources strategically to de-risk private investment in vulnerable communities where insecurity, poor infrastructure and disrupted economic activity make investors reluctant to commit capital.
“If a private-sector player wants to invest in a community facing security or infrastructure challenges, it is legitimate for the government to use public resources to help de-risk that investment,” he said.
He identified security support, access roads and other critical infrastructure as areas where government intervention could unlock private capital, while urging stakeholders to explore credit guarantees and insurance mechanisms to further reduce investment risks.
Bagudu also pointed to existing World Bank-supported programmes, including NG-CARES and Nigeria for Women, as potential platforms for strengthening private-sector participation in communities affected by displacement.
He said the government was working towards more localised development planning, including a clearer understanding of the needs and investment opportunities in Nigeria’s 8,809 wards.
Such mapping, he said, would help identify communities hosting displaced persons, those experiencing displacement and the infrastructure, security and economic constraints preventing investment.
The minister stressed that host communities must also be incorporated into intervention programmes, warning that the pressure created by displacement often extends beyond displaced populations to the communities receiving them.
He urged the UNHCR and other partners not to restrict the initiative to its initial 10-state target but to develop a framework that could eventually be adopted by governments and investors nationwide.
“Displacement and vulnerability are not confined to one part of Nigeria,” he said, noting that insecurity, historical tensions and limited access to land and infrastructure affect enterprise development in different parts of the country.
Bagudu proposed that the government and its partners identify three to five projects that could serve as proof of concept for the LEAP initiative.
He identified agriculture, including oil production, sugar and other commodities, as areas where investment could generate jobs and rebuild local economies, particularly where agricultural models can be adapted to the security realities of affected communities.
3.7m IDPs, 140,000 refugees and asylum seekers
The UNHCR Representative in Nigeria, Arjun Jain, said the initiative was designed to move the organisation’s intervention beyond traditional humanitarian support towards self-reliance, sustainable livelihoods and economic inclusion.
He said UNHCR’s engagement with displaced populations had shown that people wanted opportunities to rebuild their lives through employment, enterprise and sustainable sources of income rather than remain dependent on humanitarian assistance.
Nigeria’s displacement crisis, he said, makes such an approach increasingly urgent, with UNHCR’s current operation identifying more than 3.7 million internally displaced people and over 140,000 refugees and asylum-seekers in the country.
Jain said UNHCR had therefore intensified engagement with private companies, state governments and development partners to develop investment opportunities capable of benefiting displaced persons and host communities.
He cited the organisation’s partnership with Tropical General Investments (TGI) as an example, saying the three-year agricultural initiative in Benue and Cross River states is expected to support more than 5,000 farmers and create over 10,000 jobs, including for refugees, internally displaced persons and members of host communities.
The UNHCR representative said the organisation was also exploring financing arrangements with development finance institutions and commercial banks to provide affordable capital to farmers, displaced populations and other vulnerable groups.
He said UNHCR was simultaneously developing community-based early-warning and early-response systems to provide investors and authorities with more accurate information on security conditions.
According to him, such systems could help correct blanket perceptions that entire regions are too risky for investment, when actual conditions can differ substantially between local government areas and individual communities.
Jain said the LEAP initiative would bring together government, private investors, development finance institutions and development partners to identify viable investments, mobilise financing and reduce risks that could otherwise prevent businesses from entering fragile communities.
He said UNHCR had already engaged institutions including British International Investment and the International Finance Corporation on the proposal.
“The only way we can succeed is to bring everyone around the table,” Jain said.
The proposed initiative therefore represents an attempt to link Nigeria’s displacement response with its broader economic development agenda—using public intervention to reduce investment risks while directing private capital towards communities where lost livelihoods, insecurity and inadequate infrastructure have constrained economic activity.
