President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has launched a new nationwide programme aimed at fighting poverty and boosting economic growth in communities across Nigeria, Dockaysworld reports.
The initiative, called the Renewed Hope Ward Development Programme (RHWDP), was approved on Thursday during the 150th meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The programme targets all of Nigeria’s 8,809 political wards and is part of the president’s wider Renewed Hope Agenda, which aims to grow the economy to $1 trillion by 2030.
Speaking at the meeting, President Tinubu called on state governors to focus more on helping people at the grassroots.
“Let us change the story of our people in the rural areas,” he said. “The economy is working. We are on the path of recovery, but we need to grow the rural economy.”
Nigeria currently faces poverty challenges. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 133 million Nigerians, about 63% of the population, are living in poverty, mostly in rural areas.
The new plan, it is understood will help each ward carry out 1,000 to 2,000 small-scale economic activities, depending on the size of the area. It will be supervised by a National Steering Committee, with the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning in charge of coordination.
Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, who presented the plan, said all levels of government, federal, state, and local, will work together to make it successful.
To support the programme, President Tinubu also directed that the Office of the Surveyor-General be moved to the Presidency to improve planning. He further ordered the expansion of the national school feeding programme to help more children stay in school and reduce child poverty.
