President Bola Tinubu has urged state governors to prioritise the welfare of Nigerians by investing more in their future.

Mr Tinubu made the call at the 150th meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC), held at the State House Council Chambers in Abuja.

The president also encouraged governors to allocate more resources to rural electrification, agricultural mechanisation, poverty eradication, and infrastructure development.

He emphasised the need for governors to do more to positively impact the lives of Nigerians at the grassroots level.

“I want to appeal to you: let us change the story of our people in the rural areas. The economy is working. We are on the path to recovery, but we need to stimulate growth in the rural areas.

“We know the situation in the rural areas. Let us collaborate and do what will benefit the people,” Mr Tinubu said.

He urged governors to work closely with the federal government to drive economic development in rural communities across the country.

“We have to embrace mechanisation in agriculture, fight insecurity, and improve school enrolment through school feeding,” the president added.

Mr Tinubu also directed the NEC to establish a committee focused on enhancing the implementation of legacy infrastructure projects, especially the Lagos-Calabar and Sokoto-Badagry super highways.

To facilitate this, he ordered the transfer of the Office of the surveyor-general of the federation to the presidency for better coordination and execution.

The NEC endorsed a new ward-based development strategy known as the Renewed Hope Ward Development Programme (RHWDP).

The programme aims to drive double-digit economic growth through direct intervention in Nigeria’s 8,809 administrative wards across all 36 states.

Presented by the minister of budget and economic planning, Abubakar Bagudu, the RHWDP received full endorsement as a collaborative effort between the federal, state, and local governments.

The programme is a key component of Mr Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which targets achieving a 1 trillion-dollar economy by 2030.

This would require a 15 per cent annual growth rate, far above the current rate of less than 4 per cent.

The RHWDP is legally grounded in the 1999 Constitution and the Fifth Alteration Act, which mandates government efforts to ensure food security and improved production methods.

Key targets include sustainable support for economic activities with minimum thresholds of 1,000 economically active individuals for smaller wards and 2,000 for larger wards.

A national steering committee comprising representatives from all six geopolitical zones will oversee implementation with the ministry of budget and economic planning serving as the secretariat.

In a related development, the NEC also directed the strengthening of State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) across all 36 states and instructed the Federal Ministry of Finance to release emergency funds to address the threat of flooding.

This resolution followed a presentation by Zubaida Umar, director-general of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), on Nigeria’s 2025 flood preparedness and response strategies.

Ms Umar highlighted the agency’s achievements since 2024, including the development of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy and Action Plan (2024–2027) with UN support, and ongoing validation of the Nigeria Hazard Risk Countrywide Analysis for 2024.

She noted that NEMA had improved civil-military coordination for disaster response, involving the military, Nigeria Police Force, Civil Defence Corps, and the Nigeria Red Cross.

Key preparedness actions in 2025 included expert analysis of meteorological forecasts and the dissemination of flood predictions to states between May and June.

She also said that SEMAs had been strengthened, Local Emergency Management Committees had been established, and the Emergency Coordination Forum had been activated, integrating military, police, and civil defence units.

“The Emergency Operations Centre was activated on May 29, 2025, with national and zonal centres now operational.

“NEMA has deployed search and rescue equipment to high-risk states and continues downscaling early warning messages to local communities through the National Preparedness and Response Campaign,” she said.

However, Ms Umar identified persistent challenges hampering effective flood response.

“These include poor drainage infrastructure, delayed data reporting from states, insecurity in flood-prone areas, weak SEMAs, and inactive Local Emergency Management Committees.”

She also cited poor compliance with urban planning laws, inadequate environmental hygiene, and poor waste management systems as contributing factors.

(NAN)