President Bola Tinubu addressed governors on Thursday under the National Economic Council’s (NEC) auspices, warning them about the increasing disparity in the distribution of resources and urging them to let them trickle down to the local level.
He continued by giving them a lesson on the importance of letting the enormous resources they receive trickle down to state and local residents.
Tinubu gave them advice on a variety of governance matters, even though Vice President Kashim Shettima chairs the NEC.
“We recently concluded the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting with Mr. President Bola Tinubu in attendance, and the meeting presented an opportunity for him to brief the governors on the need for the national government and sub-national government to work together for the overall interest of our people and country, Nigeria,” said Hope Uzodimma, the governor of Imo State, who described the events of the meeting.
“We recognized his successes in generating income and the outcomes already documented as a consequence of his administration’s numerous reform initiatives.
Both the nation and the subnational governments are now making more money.
“The president developed a plan that will expedite the process of this increased funding, ensuring that it reaches the grassroots and has a greater impact on Nigerians.
They therefore introduced a scheme to boost ward-level economic activity. Details can be obtained later by the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, who serves as the program’s secretariat.
At the same time, the president recognized the difficulties associated with environmental impact assessments of his legacy projects, especially the Lagos-Calabar coastal road and the Sokoto-Badagry road, and he pushed for the establishment of a committee to encourage cooperation between the national and subnational governments in order to expedite the project’s realization.
To ensure that subnational governments and the Surveyor General of the Federation are in agreement for Nigeria’s benefit, a committee would be established.
“Mr. President’s briefing today actually served as a spark to boost our spirits and inspire our workers to work hard and take necessary action.
For us, the governors, Mr. President has done a great job, and his administration’s reform initiatives are starting to pay off. He has placed a strong emphasis on having a direct influence on Nigerians, from the very top down to the average citizen on the street.
“We want to feel that Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda is working at our level, which is the next stage of the program.” and we want it to have an impact at the local level as well. That, I believe, covers the two main topics covered at the National Economic Council meeting today.
Governors and Tinubu Launch the Renewed Hope Ward Development Program
On Thursday, President Bola Tinubu announced the “Renewed Hope Ward Development Programme,” a unique intervention program, and asked state governors to get involved in order to implement the policy at the local level.
This was revealed by Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, in an interview with State House reporters.
According to him, the governors present at the National Economic Council meeting were ordered by the president to find at least 1000 Nigerians who could need financial assistance to start their own businesses.
The president attended the NEC meeting today and thanked the state governors for their collaboration with him and the federal government, Bagudu told reporters.
The Renewed Hope Ward Development Program document, a plan to assist the administration’s macroeconomic changes, was presented to the President today in a very historic next step.
After the macro economy has stabilized, the next phase is to cut development to the bare minimum in order to boost economic activity in each of the nation’s 8,809 wards. We think this will increase employment, lower poverty, improve food security, and even improve social protection.
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This complies with our constitution. The federal government, state governments, and local governments are required by Chapter Two of our Constitution to utilize the nation’s resources in order to foster national prosperity and an effective, dynamic, and self-sufficient economy. Only cooperation will be able to do this.
As a staunch supporter of federalism, Mr. President today introduced the Renewed Hope Ward-based Development Program, which is a partnership between the federal, state, and local governments. It is a federation project that will be financed by the increased funds coming into the Federation Account and other initiatives that the federal government and states are working on.
In order to enhance economic activity in every ward of the federation, it is equally important to identify at least 1000 economically active individuals in each ward who would get help. The plan is to take use of this special aspect of our economy to produce double-digit growth in the majority of the wards as we move closer to a $1 trillion economy. In order to identify the economically active people in each ward and to establish the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning as the program’s secretariat, it was decided that the NEC should adopt a resolution supporting and promoting the Renewed Hope Ward Development Program as a joint effort between the federal, state, and local governments.
Notably, the International Monetary Fund specifically encouraged us along this path in its most recent report about Nigeria in the 2025 article four consultation, stating that the President’s audacious reforms have improved stability and enhanced resilience, liberalized and strengthened the poor, improved the function of the foreign exchange market, eliminated foreign exchange subsidies, strengthened revenue administration, and increased hydrocarbon production.
The National Economic Council graciously approved the program today because “Mr. President has always believed that we must invest collaboratively with federal and state in the creative energy of Nigerians and the geographical wards in order to reduce poverty and food insecurity.”
