President Bola Tinubu has officially launched the Renewed Hope Cities and Estates programme with the groundbreaking ceremony for a 3,112 housing unit project in Karsana District, Phase 3, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The Renewed Hope Cities and Estates Programme, a crucial component of a Public-Private Partnership established in December 2023, aims to address the housing deficit in Nigeria by constructing a total of 100,000 housing units nationwide.

President Tinubu had in a bid to tackle the pressing issue of housing deficit, authorized 100 billion naira for the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development in the 2023 Supplementary budget.

Additionally, 18.9 billion naira has been allocated in the 2024 budget for the implementation of the Renewed Hope Cities and Estates project, alongside Urban and Slum Upgrading programmes.

During the groundbreaking, President Tinubu said the housing units serve as a testament to his administration’s belief that every Nigerian deserves affordable and decent accommodation.

The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Musa Dangiwa, and Senator Aminu Tambuwal, thanked the President for the project. First to speak was the Minister.

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has met the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu to address the security situation in the country as well as the rising cost of food items.

During the meeting that had a representative of the Department of State Services (DSS), the governors agreed to support the NSA office in the states to enhance the nature and quality of intelligence.

They also called for the reduction of Foreign Exchange demand by use of moral suasion to reduce dependence on foreign exchange, imported goods and services as a way of nipping in the bud, the current security situation and food stability in the country.

This was disclosed in a statement by the NGF Chairman and Governor of Kwara State, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, at the end of the first emergency virtual meeting in 2024.

According to the statement, the governors reiterated their commitment to deploying emergency food interventions, including incentivizing food production, release of food items from strategic food reserves and collaboration with food millers and commodity traders in their various states to boost food availability as an immediate short-term action.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, today held a world press conference on some pressing national issues, at the National Assembly.

It would be recalled that in his welcome address when the House resumed plenary after the Christmas and New Year break, Speaker Abbas lamented the worsening insecurity as well as the hunger in the land.

At the press conference, the Speaker spoke on a range of topical national issues covering areas such as security, economy, food shortage, among others.

He equally promised that the House would soon convene a legislative security summit to find a solution to the security challenges facing the nation.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have issued a 14-day nationwide strike notice to the Federal Government from tomorrow, February 9, over the non-implementation of the agreements reached on October 2, 2023, following the removal of the subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as Petrol.

In a statement today, the Unions said the October 2 agreement was focused on addressing the massive suffering and the general harsh socioeconomic consequences of the hike in the price of PMS and the devaluation of the naira.

They stressed that these dual policies have had, as they predicted, dire economic consequences for the masses and workers of Nigeria.

Speaking further, the Unions lamented that “it is regrettable that they are compelled to resort to such measures, but the persistent neglect of the welfare of citizens and Nigerian workers and the massive hardship leave them with no choice.

The Federal Government had among other things promised the implementation of a 35,000 naira wage award for civil servants which has not been paid up to date.