The Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG) has dismissed claims that the Federal Government’s newly unveiled $1 billion Renewed Hope Social Protection Programme (HOPE-SP) was hastily created in response to opposition campaign promises.
In a statement signed by its Chairman, Emeka Nwankpa, and Secretary, Dapo Okubanjo, the group said the initiative was the product of months of planning and a presidential directive issued after the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Bernard Doro, assumed office in November 2025.
TMSG said it was misleading to describe the programme as a “panic” or “knee- jerk” reaction to the economic recovery plan recently proposed by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Although HOPE-SP was launched about a week after the opposition plan was announced, the group argued that the scale and complexity of the initiative made it impossible to have been assembled within days.
According to TMSG, the programme is designed to go beyond temporary cash handouts by providing vulnerable Nigerians with sustainable livelihoods, tracking beneficiaries and guiding them through a “poverty graduation pathway” towards economic inclusion and self-reliance.
The group said the initiative followed earlier efforts by the Tinubu administration, including a cash-transfer programme that reportedly reached about 10 million vulnerable households over the past three years.
It also described HOPE-SP, alongside a recently unveiled $3 billion World Bank- backed plan, as part of a broader strategy to tackle multidimensional poverty across the country’s **8,809 wards**.
TMSG acknowledged that the removal of fuel subsidies and the unification of exchange rates had intensified the cost-of-living crisis, but said the government had consistently recognised the need to protect vulnerable citizens while implementing its economic reforms.
The group urged Nigerians to remain patient and resilient, while warning against what it described as attempts by opposition politicians to gain electoral advantage by misrepresenting the government’s social-protection policies.
