The Provost of the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria and Head of Contemporary China-Africa Research, Prof. Sheriff Ghali Ibrahim, has urged Nigeria to adopt relevant lessons from China’s targeted approach to poverty reduction, particularly in accountability, infrastructure, economic empowerment and beneficiary-focused interventions.
Ghali spoke at a one-day workshop on Nigeria’s Poverty Alleviation and China’s Development Model, organised by the Diplomatic Correspondents’ Association of Nigeria (DICAN) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja.
He said China’s experience showed that sustained economic growth, targeted interventions and strong accountability mechanisms could significantly reduce poverty.
According to the scholar, China lifted more than 800 million people out of extreme rural poverty over four decades through economic reforms, targeted poverty alleviation programmes, infrastructure development, job creation and rigorous monitoring.
He noted that the country officially declared the elimination of absolute poverty in 2020 after years of implementing policies built around market-driven growth, local industry development and large-scale infrastructure investment.
Ghali explained that a major feature of China’s strategy was its shift from broad regional assistance to household-level interventions.
Under the approach, officials identified poor households, investigated the specific causes of their poverty and designed support programmes based on their individual needs and circumstances.
He said economic growth, skills training, employment creation, local industry development and efforts to narrow the gap between urban and rural communities were central to the strategy.
According to him, China also deliberately channelled resources from more developed industrial regions to less-developed agricultural communities to stimulate local economies and expand opportunities.
The professor further highlighted the deployment of government officials and specialised work teams to rural communities, extensive household surveys and cooperation between wealthier eastern provinces and less-developed western regions.
He said China’s poverty reduction efforts also involved relocating residents from environmentally fragile and remote areas to communities with better infrastructure, improved market access and greater economic opportunities.
Massive investment in roads, railways, electricity and digital connectivity, he added, helped integrate rural communities into wider markets and expand access to employment and other economic opportunities.
Ghali identified accountability as another critical pillar of China’s poverty reduction success.
He said rigorous monitoring, verification and evaluation systems enabled authorities to track interventions at county and village levels and assess whether programmes were producing measurable results.
He also cited the “10,000 Enterprises Help 10,000 Villages” initiative as an example of how private-sector participation could support poverty reduction through industrial development, job creation and public welfare programmes.
Ghali said Nigeria could benefit from similar collaboration among government, businesses, communities and development institutions.
However, he cautioned against copying China’s development model wholesale, stressing that Nigeria must adapt useful principles to its own political, economic and social realities.
“Poverty reduction requires more than government spending. It must be supported by accountability, accurate identification of beneficiaries, economic empowerment, infrastructure and continuous monitoring,” he said.
The workshop brought together policymakers, diplomats, scholars, journalists and other stakeholders to examine China’s development experience and explore strategies that could strengthen poverty alleviation and governance reforms in Nigeria.
Discussions focused on how targeted interventions, infrastructure development, private-sector participation, job creation and accountable governance could be adapted to Nigeria’s development environment to achieve more sustainable poverty reduction.
