Following a World Bank report indicating that 138 million Nigerians are living in multidimensional poverty, ActionAid Nigeria, in partnership with over 70 organisations, has launched the Movement for the Transformation of Nigeria (MOTION) to eradicate poverty in the country.

Speaking at the launch in Abuja, which coincided with the International Day for Poverty Eradication, the Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Andrew Mamedu, said the movement aims to hold the government accountable for reducing the nation’s poverty rate.
Mamedu lamented that the World Bank’s statistics mean that “four times the population of Ghana—about 30 million people—are poor in Nigeria.”

“MOTION has come today to create awareness, raise consciousness, and get citizens to hold our government accountable,” he said.
He noted that peaceful protests were held simultaneously across six states to remind the government of its unfulfilled promises. “Our pots are empty—empty promises, empty campaigns—they are not being fulfilled,” he added.

Mamedu criticised Nigeria’s ballooning budgets, noting that since 1999, the national budget has increased from N299 billion to N54 trillion, about a 150-fold rise.
Despite this, he said, poverty levels have worsened—from 52.5 million Nigerians living in poverty in 1999 to 139 million in 2025.

He questioned where the savings from fuel subsidy removal were being directed and called for greater accountability from state and local governments regarding resource utilisation.
“This protest will not be a one-off activity,” Mamedu said. “We urge Nigerians to come out with their pots and pans to remind the government that the people are hungry.”
Convener of MOTION, Mrs Hauwa Mustapha, said the movement’s goal is for citizens to unite and demand an end to suffering in a nation blessed with abundance.

“We have no business having 139 million Nigerians waking up without knowing where their next meal will come from. We have no reason to have 11 million children on the streets, hungry and unschooled, in a country endowed with vast agricultural resources,” she said.

Mustapha explained that the movement is anchored on six pillars: ending hunger, creating at least three million jobs annually, curbing corruption, continuing the school feeding programme, and including the 139 million poor Nigerians in conditional cash transfer initiatives.