The Federal Government has been urged to adapt relevant aspects of China‘s poverty reduction model to Nigeria’s peculiar socio-economic and political realities rather than attempt to replicate it wholesale.
Experts, diplomats and media stakeholders made the call in Abuja at a high-level workshop organised by the Diplomatic Correspondents’ Association of Nigeria (DICAN) on Nigeria’s poverty alleviation efforts and the relevance of China’s development model.
They said Nigeria’s persistent poverty required a shift from short-term welfare interventions to structural policies capable of building the productive capacity of poor citizens, expanding economic opportunities and improving access to infrastructure and social services.
Representing the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Yu Dunhai, the Counselor, Economic and Commercial Office of the Chinese Embassy, Counselor Sun Xuekun, said China’s poverty reduction achievements were historic in scale, speed and sustainability.
He said China had lifted more than 800 million people out of poverty since the launch of its reform and opening-up programme in 1978, accounting for more than 70 per cent of global poverty reduction.
Sun said that when the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, the country had one of the highest poverty rates in the world, with nearly 87 per cent of its population living in rural areas under extreme poverty.
He said that by the end of 2012, nearly 100 million rural residents were still living below the poverty line, but within eight years, all had been lifted out of poverty.
“A total of 98.99 million rural poor residents, 832 impoverished counties, and 128,000 impoverished villages were removed from poverty. China eradicated absolute poverty and achieved the poverty reduction target of the United Nations 2030 Agenda ten years ahead of schedule,” he said.
According to him, China’s strategy was anchored on strong leadership and accountability, targeted poverty alleviation, sustainable development and mechanisms to prevent people from falling back into poverty.
He said the Chinese government invested nearly 1.6 trillion yuan in special poverty alleviation funds, mobilised financial support and deployed more than three million officials and village work team members to poor communities.
“China shifted from broad, generalized measures to precision-based interventions. Through detailed identification of poor households and villages, analysis of the causes of poverty, and the establishment of a national information management system, assistance was tailored to local realities,” Sun said.
He said measures such as local industry development, relocation from inhospitable areas, ecological compensation, educational assistance and social security helped transform poverty reduction from short-term assistance into sustainable development.
Sun added that China had subsequently linked poverty alleviation with rural revitalisation, strengthening monitoring and support mechanisms to prevent people from slipping back into poverty.
Director of the Centre for China Studies, Abuja, Charles Onunaiju, said Nigeria’s poverty reduction strategies had largely focused on sustaining poor people at subsistence level rather than addressing the structural constraints preventing them from becoming productive wealth creators.
He argued that poverty reduction should focus on building individual and community capabilities.
“Lack of individual capability is the defining parameter of poverty, so any poverty alleviation or reduction that did not enable capability could be described as just poverty maintenance,” Onunaiju said.
He cited the work of Indian-born Harvard economist, Prof Amartya Sen, who defined capability as an individual’s capacity to achieve the kind of life they had reason to value.
Onunaiju said China’s experience demonstrated that poverty reduction should go beyond financial assistance to include infrastructure, education, healthcare, skills development and the creation of opportunities for poor people to participate productively in the economy.
He said Nigeria could transform rural communities into vibrant economic centres by investing comprehensively in feeder roads, electricity, primary healthcare and rural water supply.
“When once, the currently isolated and detached communities can engage in local trade to be made possible through vibrant local or rural infrastructure connectivity, communities can leverage their respective comparative advantages in production and skills to boost wider economies of scale,” he said.
Onunaiju also linked poverty to the quality of democratic participation, arguing that extreme deprivation could make citizens vulnerable to vote buying and other forms of political manipulation.
“Poverty alleviation or reduction is not a humanitarian gesture or a charity to be extended by benevolent leaders but a serious front-line policy arena that must be dutifully engaged with all sense of responsibility,” he said.
Similarly, Provost of the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria and Head of Contemporary China-Africa Research, Prof Sheriff Ghali Ibrahim, said China’s success was based on the combination of sustained economic growth, targeted poverty alleviation, infrastructure development, local industry promotion and strict bureaucratic accountability.
He said China moved from broad regional interventions to precise, household-level profiling to identify the causes of poverty and determine appropriate interventions.
“Development-oriented relief focused on building self-development capacities through job training rather than permanent welfare dependency,” Ibrahim said.
He identified other elements of China’s strategy as the deployment of officials to poor villages, collaboration between richer and poorer regions, relocation of communities in extremely difficult environments, infrastructure and digital connectivity, and strict verification of poverty reduction outcomes.
Ibrahim also highlighted China’s “10,000 Enterprises Help 10,000 Villages” initiative as an example of how the private sector and wider society could be integrated into poverty reduction through industry, employment and public welfare.
Media scholar and public affairs analyst, Dr Austin Maho, said Nigeria must carefully evaluate China’s experience and determine what could be transferred to the Nigerian environment.
Maho, who participated in a media delegation to Yinchuan City, Ningxia Province, China, in July, said the country’s rapid population growth made poverty reduction an urgent national priority.
He said Nigeria recorded an estimated 7.6 million births in 2025, compared with 7.9 million births in China, despite China having a population of about 1.4 billion.
“We are growing faster than our infrastructure, our schools, and our jobs. Our demographic trajectory makes poverty reduction/eradication not just a social policy, but a national security emergency,” Maho said.
He said journalists and diplomatic correspondents had a responsibility to critically evaluate international development models rather than simply reproduce official narratives.
“Models cannot be imported wholesale. They must be evaluated, communicated, and contextualized. This is the essential work of journalists, diplomatic correspondents and media executives,” he said.
Maho identified Nigeria’s federal structure, weak state capacity, inadequate data systems, security challenges, dependence on oil and short political cycles as some of the factors that made direct replication of China’s model impractical.
He urged Nigerian newsrooms to establish a development diplomacy beat to monitor development projects under initiatives such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Belt and Road Initiative and Global Development Initiative.
He also called for regular field reporting from local government areas and greater collaboration between newsrooms and data institutions to track the impact of poverty reduction programmes.
In his goodwill message, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Dunoma Umar Ahmed, said Nigeria, like other developing countries, faced complex challenges of persistent poverty, unemployment and inequality that required bold and collaborative responses.
He said Nigeria should study China’s experience while ensuring that any lessons adopted were consistent with the country’s institutions, social structure and democratic values.
“China’s development experience offers lessons in long-term planning, infrastructure-led growth, targeted poverty reduction programs and the mobilization of domestic resources. Yet every country’s path must be shaped by its unique institutions, social fabric and values,” Ahmed said.
He said the relevant elements of China’s model could support agricultural productivity, social protection, public-private partnerships and human capital development in Nigeria.
The Permanent Secretary also stressed the importance of accountability and the role of the media in ensuring that poverty reduction policies delivered tangible benefits.
“Diplomatic correspondents and the wider media are critical in shaping public understanding, scrutinizing policy choices, and holding stakeholders accountable,” he said.
Ahmed said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would continue to strengthen international cooperation, knowledge exchange, responsible investment, technology transfer and capacity-building partnerships to support Nigeria’s development priorities.
In his welcome address, DICAN Chairman, Mr Idehai Frederick, said the workshop was timely given the growing concern over poverty and the need for Nigeria to examine successful development experiences from other countries.
He said China’s experience offered useful lessons but stressed that adaptation, rather than direct replication, was essential.
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“China’s historical feat of lifting over 800 million people out of extreme poverty provides a compelling blueprint. However, adaptation rather than direct replication is key to achieving meaningful impact within Nigeria’s unique socio-economic landscape,” Frederick said.
He urged the Chinese government to expand fellowship opportunities, media exchange programmes and technical journalism training for DICAN members.
Frederick also called for stronger engagement between the Chinese Embassy, Chinese businesses and Nigerian diplomatic correspondents to promote greater understanding of bilateral trade, investment and corporate social responsibility initiatives.
He said Nigeria should take greater advantage of China’s zero-tariff policy for African exports by strengthening local supply chains, improving standardisation and expanding non-oil exports to the Chinese market.
The DICAN chairman said the media should play a stronger role in monitoring development cooperation and ensuring that international models translated into measurable benefits for Nigerians.
He said the workshop would help strengthen collaboration among policymakers, development partners, stakeholders and the media in the search for sustainable solutions to Nigeria’s poverty challenge.
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