Tinubu approves rollout of national construction and household support programme

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President Bola Tinubu has approved the immediate rollout of the National Construction and Household Support Programme, which will cover all geopolitical zones in the country.

Tinubu’s spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, said he announced the approval at the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting on Thursday in Abuja.

The programme aims to boost agricultural productivity, strengthen the economy by creating opportunities in agriculture, manufacturing, and construction, and provide urgent economic relief for Nigerians.

As part of the programme, the Sokoto-Badagry Highway, which will pass through Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun, and Lagos, is a priority. Other prioritized road infrastructure projects include the ongoing Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the Trans-Saharan Highway, which connects Enugu, Abakaliki, Ogoja, Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa, and Abuja.

Tinubu also approved full counterpart financing for the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri Railway, which will 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, passing through Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Kwara, Niger, Abuja, Kaduna, and Kano.

The Sokoto-Badagry road project is specially prioritized due to its strategic importance for agricultural sustainability, as it passes through key agricultural states.

Within the Sokoto-Badagry Highway corridor, there are 216 agricultural communities, 58 large and medium dams across six states, seven Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs), 156 local government areas, 39 commercial cities and towns, and over 1 million hectares of arable land.

Additional components of the National Construction and Household Support Programme include a one-off allocation of N10 billion to states and the Federal Capital Territory for the procurement of buses and the CNG uplift program, delivery of N50,000 uplift grants to 100,000 families per state for three months, provisions for labor unions and civil society organizations, and the deployment of N155 billion for the purchase and distribution of assorted foodstuffs nationwide.