Nigeria is exploring a different approach to one of the country’s most persistent humanitarian challenges: instead of responding to displacement only through relief, how can affected communities be rebuilt in ways that restore livelihoods, attract investment and create lasting economic opportunities?
The Federal Government, in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), development finance institutions and private-sector partners, is working to mobilise $10 billion in private investment over five years to rebuild livelihoods and stimulate economic activity in communities affected by displacement and fragility.
The proposed initiative, known as the Leadership Alliance for Enterprise, Acceleration and Prosperity (LEAP), is expected to initially focus on 10 states before potentially expanding to other parts of the country.
The plan was discussed when Nigeria’s Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, received a UNHCR delegation led by its Representative in Nigeria, Arjun Jain.
At the centre of the proposal is a shift in how displacement is addressed.
For communities affected by conflict, insecurity or disasters, displacement often means more than losing a home. People can lose access to farms, businesses, livestock, markets and other sources of income. Host communities can also face additional pressure as displaced populations settle in areas with already limited economic opportunities.
Bagudu said the proposed initiative would therefore seek to connect humanitarian response with economic recovery, using public resources to help reduce some of the risks that discourage private investment in vulnerable communities.
Potential interventions could include support for security, infrastructure, access roads, credit guarantees and insurance mechanisms designed to make investment in fragile communities more viable.
The Federal Government is also considering agriculture as one of the sectors that could help generate jobs and rebuild local economies, including opportunities in oil production, sugar and other commodities where models can be adapted to the realities of affected communities.
UNHCR Representative Arjun Jain said the organisation was seeking to move beyond traditional humanitarian support towards self-reliance, sustainable livelihoods and economic inclusion.
Nigeria currently has more than 3.7 million internally displaced people and over 140,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, according to UNHCR. The organisation says the scale of displacement makes it increasingly important to develop solutions that allow affected people to rebuild their lives through employment, enterprise and sustainable sources of income.
UNHCR is already working with private-sector and development partners to explore such approaches. One example is its partnership with Tropical General Investments, through which an agricultural initiative in Benue and Cross River states is expected to support more than 5,000 farmers and create over 10,000 jobs, including opportunities for refugees, internally displaced people and members of host communities.
The proposed LEAP initiative would also seek to improve information about investment conditions at community level. UNHCR is developing community-based early-warning and early-response systems that could provide investors and authorities with more detailed information about security conditions, rather than treating entire regions as uniformly high-risk.
The government has also proposed identifying three to five projects that could serve as proof-of-concept investments for the initiative.
The approach reflects a broader shift within Nigeria’s displacement response. UNHCR’s 2026–2029 Nigeria strategy places greater emphasis on livelihoods, socio-economic inclusion, national systems and partnerships with development finance institutions and the private sector, while maintaining emergency humanitarian capacity.
For communities that have lived through years of displacement, the long-term question is not simply how to provide assistance today, but how to create the conditions for people to earn an income, rebuild businesses, return to productive activity and participate in the economies of the communities where they live.
If implemented, the proposed $10 billion investment framework would represent an attempt to connect those needs with private capital and broader economic development — bringing humanitarian response, livelihoods and investment into the same conversation.
