By Yahaya Umar, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu, has approved the construction of the 1,000km Sokoto-Badagry Highway.
Tinubu, gave the approval at the the National Economic Council, NEC, meeting yesterday, in Abuja.
The Sokoto-Badagry road project will traverse Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun, and Lagos States.
The President pointed out that the road project is specially prioritised as some of the states it will pass through are strategic to the agricultural sustainability of the nation.
He explained that 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, 156 local government areas, 39 commercial cities and towns, and over one million hectares of arable land.
According to him, “Sokoto-Badagry Highway is a pivotal project as the states within this axis form the food belt of the nation, with Badagry being an important artery for food export.
“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”.
In this vein, He said that “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”.
It would be recalled that Tinubu had in April approved the commencement of design for the road project.
Other major road projects being embarked upon by the federal government include the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the Trans-Saharan Highway, which links Enugu, Abakaliki, Ogoja, Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa, and Abuja.
Meanwhile, the President also approved the full counterpart financing for the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri Railway to traverse Rivers, Abia, Enugu, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe and Borno, as well as 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
Speaking during the NEC meeting in Abuja, Tinubu called on state governors to work together to meet the needs of citizens.
He then expressed willingness to provide the needed support with a view to addressing the socio-economic challenges being faced by citizens.
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