Impediments to Social Protection Policies in Nigeria Some of the factors that may have accounted for the failure of past poverty-related programmes(World Bank 1996; Hagen-Zanker and Holmes 2012; ILO 2017) include the following: 1. Lack of targeting mechanisms for the poor- the fact that most of the programmes did not focus directly on the poor. 2. Political and policy instability and related policy changes prevented continuous progress. 3. Inadequate coordination of the various programmes in various institutions, agencies and Ministries. 4. Overextended scope of activities of most institutions, resulting in resources being spread too thinly on too many activities. 5. Inappropriate programme design reflecting lack of involvement of beneficiaries in the formulation and implementation of programmes. 6. Absence of effective collaboration and complementation among the three tiers of government. 7. Absence of agreed poverty reduction agenda that could be used by all concerned – Federal Government, State Governments, Local Governments, NGOs, and the International Donor Community. 27