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

This includes immediate deployment of the sum of one hundred and fifty-five billion naira for the purchase and sale of assorted foodstuff to be distributed across the nation.

It also includes, one-off allocation to states and the Federal Capital Territory the sum of ten billion naira for the procurement of buses under the CNG uplift programme.

They are to boost agricultural productivity, strengthen the economy, and create opportunities in the real sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, and construction.

Also included on the items for urgent disbursement is the delivery of a fifty thousand naira uplift grant each to one hundred thousand families per state for three months.

Other items under the National Construction and Household Support Programme include the provision for labour unions and civil society organisations.

The President gave the approvals during the 141st National Economic Council meeting held at the Council Chamber of the State House, Abuja.

Speaking during the meeting, President Tinubu urged state governors to work together to meet the needs of citizens, stating that he is willing to provide the needed support to ensure Nigerians are relieved of hardship.

While emphasising the urgency of boosting food production, the President noted that the Sokoto-Badagry Highway is a pivotal project as the states within the axis form the food belt of the nation, with Badagry being an important artery for food export.

He expressed the readiness of his administration to support the State Governors in mechanised agricultural processes and the provision of high-quality seedlings.

Under the programme, the Sokoto-Badagry Highway, which will traverse Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun, and Lagos, is prioritised.

Other road infrastructure projects such as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, which is underway, and the Trans-Saharan Highway, which links Enugu, Abakaliki, Ogoja, Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa, and Abuja, are 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, and 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 states.

He said 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.