By Jemimah Wellington, JKNewsMedia Correspondent
FAMILY CENTERED policy has been placed at the core of national planning as President Bola Tinubu designated 2026 as the year of families and social development.
JKNewsMedia.com reports that the President said putting the family unit at the heart of Nigeria’s development strategy represents a major policy shift aimed at tackling poverty, insecurity and social instability.
Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development (WASD), Imaan Sulaiman Ibrahim, disclosed this in a statement on Friday, noting that the declaration was made at the State House in Abuja.
Tinubu said the move aligns Nigeria with countries such as Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt that have adopted family focused governance models to drive long term development outcomes.
“Strong families are a national security and development asset. Societies that invest in family stability reduce vulnerability and long-term instability.
“I hereby direct that the year 2026 be designated as the Year of Social Development and Families (YSDF) in Nigeria, with coordinated action across all arms and levels of government,” he said.
The statement said the announcement followed the President’s January state visit to Türkiye, where Nigeria signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation on family cohesion and social welfare systems.
The agreement is expected to guide reforms in social services, child protection and community support structures.
Sulaiman Ibrahim said the administration has moved beyond rhetoric to implementing practical measures to back the President’s commitment.
“For social development, it is no longer business as usual, the government intends to institutionalise coordinated family policies nationwide.
“Central to the new agenda is the proposed Nigeria Families First Programme (MFFP), which will serve as the government’s primary platform for implementing family focused interventions.
The initiative is designed to address economic pressures on households and improve child welfare and social stability,” she said.
She added that the programme will target economic empowerment of families by supporting sustainable livelihoods, enhancing parenting skills through education and training, introducing broader child focused social protection measures and improving access to healthcare, housing and professional care services.
The minister said the initiative forms part of the administration’s Renewed Hope Social Impact Interventions (RHSII), a nine-pillar framework aimed at improving outcomes for women and children and aligned with the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BDPA).
The statement noted that the approach seeks to ensure that interventions in health, education, housing and employment begin at the household level rather than through fragmented social programmes.
“The success of the initiative will depend on effective coordination among federal, state and local governments, as well as sustained funding and monitoring.
“If fully implemented, the Tinubu administration believes the family centred strategy could help reduce poverty, strengthen social safety nets and address some of the underlying drivers of insecurity across the country,” the minister said.
She added that detailed action plans and partnerships would be rolled out in the coming months to translate the policy into measurable results for Nigerian families.
