Presidency: Tinubu Receives Regular Briefings on People’s Living Conditions

• Says president knows price of bread, eggs, essential foods, and wants grassroots development

•Highlights LG autonomy, infrastructure investments across six zones

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The Presidency on Tuesday declared that President Bola Tinubu is aware of the status of an average Nigerian saying he receives regular briefings from aides on people’s living conditions.

It also disclosed that the President knows the current price of essential foodstuffs like egg, bread while pushing for grassroots development across the 774 local government councils in the country.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement (North-Central), Dr Abiodun Essiet, made this disclosure while speaking to newsmen at the the State House, Abuja, alongside her counterparts from the five other geo-political zones.

Asked if the government at the centre

sufficiently understood the economic pressures confronting citizens nationwide, Essiet explained that President Tinubu gets regular information about developments in communities, including the rising cost of essential commodities like food stuffs.

Her words: “I don’t feel it’s only media people that understand what the people are facing. Some of the reality of what our people are facing is what we are communicating to Mr President.

“I usually tell people, you think Mr President doesn’t know the price of egg or bread in the market? He does, because we brief him regularly, and so do members of the Federal Executive Council”.

According to the presidential aide, government’s community engagement structure was designed to provide direct feedback from citizens, enabling the President to identify pressing needs and respond through appropriate government institutions.

Essiet further explained that the President’s determination to secure financial autonomy for local governments demonstrated his recognition that meaningful development could not be achieved without strengthening the third tier of government which is the closest to the people.

“You see him taking government to court because of local government autonomy. There’s no president that has done that because he believes the masses need to benefit”.

She emphasised that effective local governments would accelerate development, expand economic opportunities and ensure that empowerment programmes reached communities beyond state capitals.

“When our local government is strengthened, then you’ll see the same level of empowerment and development that you’re seeing at the federal level up to the state level”.

The SSA disclosed that her office had established a citizens’ assembly comprising more than 700 representatives across the North-Central zone to gather complaints, assess community needs and communicate development priorities to the Presidency.

The exercise, she stated, indicated that approximately 70 per cent of the challenges reported by residents fell within the constitutional responsibilities of local governments.

Her words: “I must tell you, 70 per cent of the things they reported are responsibilities of local government”.

Commenting on poor service delivery at the grassroots, Essiet observed that some local government employees hardly reported for duty, while communities continued to struggle with basic infrastructure and social services.

She therefore called for greater accountability in the management of local council resources and improved collaboration among the three tiers of government.

On infrastructure, the presidential aide said the Tinubu government was executing about 1,200 projects across the North-Central zone, reflecting its commitment to addressing longstanding development deficits.

According to her, no than 167 kilometres of roads had been completed, while another 1,207 kilometres were under construction.

Essiet highlighted the 401-kilometre Bida-Lambata-Mokwa Road project in Niger State, valued at N1.8 trillion, which she said had remained a source of hardship and fatal accidents for decades.

Also speaking, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement, (North West), Abdullahi Tanko Yakasai, said government was transforming major transportation corridors to improve trade, agricultural productivity and regional connectivity.

He listed the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway, Zaria-Funtua-Gusau-Sokoto road, Kaduna-Jos road and Kano-Maiduguri highway among critical interventions.

Yakasai also highlighted the 1,068-kilometre Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway, which he said is a strategic economic corridor capable of linking agricultural communities to major commercial centres and expanding interstate trade.

He said the Kaduna-Kano railway project was approaching completion, while investments in renewable energy, irrigation, agricultural mechanisation and ecological infrastructure were expected to improve livelihoods across the region.

On her part, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement (South East), Chioma Nweze said federal infrastructure investments were changing perceptions of neglect in a region that had long complained about inadequate attention from the Federal Government.

According to her, over 1,000 kilometres of road projects were being executed simultaneously across the zone, identifying the Enugu-Onitsha, Onitsha-Owerri, Enugu-Port Harcourt and Enugu-Abakaliki highways among major beneficiaries.

Nweze also mentioned interventions on the Niger bridges, bypasses and the rehabilitation of a collapsed bridge in Enugu as part of efforts to improve transportation and commercial activities.

Apart from roads, she said the establishment of the South-East Development Commission, proposed improvements in gas distribution and implementation of the Electricity Act 2023 would help address longstanding energy constraints and stimulate industrialisation.

The SSA said improved electricity supply and transport infrastructure would attract investments, revive industries and create employment opportunities.

“My people are saying the President has done a lot for us, and we are going to come out to support President Tinubu because of what he has done for us”, she stated.

Also, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement, (South-South), Gift Johnbul described the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and ongoing interventions on the East-West Road as major responses to the infrastructure challenges confronting the Niger Delta.

She stressed that the region, despite its enormous contributions to Nigeria’s oil and gas revenues, had suffered inadequate road connectivity that restricted its economic potential.

Johnbul identified the Benin-Agbor road, Benin bypass, Benin-Warri-Sapele corridor and bridge projects connecting previously isolated communities among the administration’s interventions.

She maintained that improved transportation, electricity and market access would help diversify the regional economy beyond oil and gas, particularly through agriculture, commerce and industrial development.

“The people of the South-South are 100 per cent with Tinubu. We support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and come 2027, because of the infrastructural development we are seeing in our region, we want to vote for continuity”, she said.

On the part of Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement (North-East), Hon. Abdullahamid Abba, he highlighted federal investments in road infrastructure, education, healthcare and water resources, maintaining that the administration had demonstrated considerable commitment to the region’s development.

According to him, the Akwanga-Jos, Jos-Gombe and Gombe-Biu roads, alongside the highway towards Gamboru Ngala and the Cameroon border, as important transportation corridors that would facilitate commercial activities and cross-border trade.

Abba commended the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, for advancing the administration’s road construction programme, arguing that improved connectivity would stimulate economic opportunities and strengthen regional integration.

“We thank Mr President for the wonderful work he has been doing, and we assure him that the people of the North-East will come out massively in 2027 to vote for him so that he can continue his good work in the region”.

On her part, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement (South-West), Moremi Ojudu identified local government autonomy, the establishment of the South-West Development Commission and major highway projects as significant achievements of the Tinubu government in the last three and half years.

She believed autonomous and financially empowered local governments would be better positioned to undertake community projects, support small businesses, generate revenue and improve service delivery.

Ojudu therefore urged state governors to cooperate with the Federal Government in implementing local government autonomy.

On infrastructure, the presidential aide highlighted interventions involving the Third Mainland Bridge, Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

According to her, 47.7 kilometres of the coastal highway had been completed, opening up communities along the Lekki corridor and improving opportunities for commercial development.

All the six presidential aides submitted that infrastructure development, strengthened grassroots governance and investments in agriculture, education and energy were central to the administration’s strategy for sustainable economic growth.

According to them, the combined impact of these interventions provided a compelling record on which the APC could seek renewed electoral support ahead of the 2027 general election.

The presidential aides insisted that the administration’s ongoing investments were laying the foundation for lower transportation costs, increased productivity, expanded employment opportunities and greater economic inclusion.

They called for continued cooperation among the three tiers of government saying sustaining the development programmes would be critical to translating infrastructure investments into lasting benefits for communities nationwide.