BEVERLY HILLS, November 21, (THEWILL) – The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has revealed that the Federal Government has received lands from 27 states for its mass housing scheme across the country.
Speaking on Monday, in Lagos, at the opening of the 4th Commonwealth Public Relations Congress, Mohammed, who was briefing the gathering on what the government was doing to better the lots of Nigerians, stressed that government was spending massively in infrastructural development.
“We have a lot to tell Nigerians. Spending our way out of this recession, we are investing massively in roads, railways, power, etc, and creating jobs in the process,” he said.
“Some 200,000 of the 500,000 jobs promised under the N-Power Volunteers Programme will be filled from Dec. 1, 2016.
“Out of this, N-Power Teach/Community will provide 150,000 jobs, N-Power Agro will provide 30,000 jobs and N-Power Health 20,000 jobs.
“In the agricultural sector, government is expecting a bumper harvest that will loosen the pangs of hunger being felt in many homes.
“The agricultural initiative, ‘Anchor Borrowers Programme’ that was launched by the government, has led to a significant reduction in the price of local rice, especially in the states that are participating in the programme.
“As more and more states join the programme, we will gradually but surely achieve self-sufficiency in staples such as rice while at the same time forcing down food prices.
“The Ministry of Water Resources is ensuring to step up irrigation farming to address the challenge of longer depend on rain-fed farming while government has re-mobilised contractors back to work on roads across the six geo-political zones.
“These includes the Port Harcourt-Aba Road, Sokoto-Tambuwal- Makera-Kontagara Road, Ilorin-Jebba Road and Shagamu-Ibadan Road.
“Others are Abriba-Arochukwu-Ohafia Road, Abuja- Airport Road-Lokoja, and Ikot Ekpene Border-Aba-Owerri Dualisation.
“This has helped to recover lost jobs, and put some money back in circulation, as part of a government strategy to build out of this recession.”
Story by Oputah David
