Tinubu approves household support programme to boost agriculture

President Bola Tinubu has approved the immediate rollout of the National Construction and Household Support Programme to cover all geo-political zones in the country.

The programme is designed to boost agricultural productivity, strengthen the economy by creating opportunities in the real sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, and construction, as well as provide urgent economic relief for Nigerians.

This was contained in a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, on Thursday, June 27, 2024.

Ngelala noted that under the programme, the Sokoto-Badagry Highway, which will traverse Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun, and Lagos States, is prioritised.

According to him, other road infrastructure projects, including the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, and the Trans-Saharan Highway, which links Enugu, Abakaliki, Ogoja, Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa, and Abuja, are also prioritised.

He stated that President Tinubu has also approved full counterpart financing for Port Harcourt-Maiduguri Railway; to traverse Rivers, Abia, Enugu, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, and Borno States, as well as for the Ibadan-Abuja segment of the Lagos-Kano Standard-Gauge Railway; which will traverse Abuja, Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Kwara, Niger, Kaduna, and Kano States.

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The presidential spokesman added: “The Sokoto-Badagry road project is specially prioritised for its importance as some of the states it will traverse are strategic to the agricultural sustainability of the nation.

“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 1 million hectares of arable land.

“In addition, other items under the National Construction and Household Support Programme include:

“One-off allocation to states and the Federal Capital Territory of N10 billion for the procurement of buses and CNG uplift programme.

“Delivery of N50,000 uplift grant each to 100,000 families per state for three months.

“Provision for labour unions and civil society organisations.

“Deployment of N155 billion for the purchase and sale of assorted foodstuff to be distributed across the nation.”

The Star