*Gives governors 7 days to submit list of support needed to ameliorate people’s suffering
*Charges them to meet targets on food security
CHIGOZIE AMADI
President Bola Tinubu has approved the immediate rollout of the National Construction and Household Support Programme to cover all the six geo-political zones in the country.
Tinubu gave the governors seven days to submit to his office the lists of the support required by their states to ameliorate the suffering of the people. He also charged them to meet targets on food security.
Speaking during the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja, Tinubu urged governors to work together to meet the needs of citizens, and stated that he was willing to provide the needed support to ensure that Nigerians were delivered from hardship.
While emphasising the urgency of boosting food production, the president stated that the Sokoto-Badagry Highway was a pivotal project, as the states within the axis formed the food belt of the nation, and with Badagry being an important artery for food export.
Tinubu stated, “Our states must work together to deliver on the critical reforms required of us to meet the needs of our people. Time is humanity’s most precious asset. You can never have enough of it. It is getting late.
“We are ready and able to support you in the form of the mechanisation of your agricultural processes and the provision of high-quality seedlings.
“We are prepared to provide solar powered irrigation facilities to support our farmers across seasons, but we must now produce. We must produce the food our people eat, and it will require coordination and intentionality between members of the National Economic Council (NEC).
“There is nothing we are doing that is more important than producing high-quality food for our people to consume, buy, and sell. We create jobs in the production of it. And that is before we generate wealth by exporting the excess. It is not beyond us to achieve this for Nigerians.
“How much support do you need from me and in what form? I am prepared to provide it. But we must achieve the result. We must deliver on our targets at all levels. Please, report back following your consultations and submit to my office within seven days.”
According to a release by presidential spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, yesterday, the presidential intervention was aimed at boosting agricultural productivity, strengthening the economy by creating opportunities in the real sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, and construction, as well as providing urgent economic relief for Nigerians.
Under the support programme, the Sokoto-Badagry Highway, which will traverse Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun, and Lagos, was prioritised.
The Sokoto-Badagry road project was specially prioritised for its importance, as some of the states it would traverse remained strategic to the agricultural sustainability of the country.
Within the Sokoto-Badagry Highway corridor, there are 216 agricultural communities, 58 large and medium dams spread across six states, seven Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs), 156 local government areas, 39 commercial cities and towns, and over one million hectares of arable land.
Other road infrastructure projects, such as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, which was underway, and the Trans-Saharan Highway, which links Enugu, Abakaliki, Ogoja, Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa, and Abuja, were also prioritised.
The president also approved full counterpart financing for Port Harcourt-Maiduguri Railway, to traverse Rivers, Abia, Enugu, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe and Borno, as well as for the Ibadan-Abuja segment of the Lagos-Kano Standard-Gauge Railway, which will traverse Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Kwara, Niger, Abuja, Kaduna, and Kano.
According to the release, other items under the National Construction and Household Support Programme included one-off allocation to states and the Federal Capital Territory of N10 billion for the procurement of buses and CNG uplift programme.
Others included delivery of N50,000 uplift grant each to 100,000 families per state for three (3) months; provision for labour unions and civil society organisations; and deployment of N155 billion for the purchase and sale of assorted foodstuff to be distributed across the country.
