The Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, says the ministry plans to mobilise 4,000 social media influencers to showcase its infrastructure projects and achievements to Nigerians.
Umahi disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja during an engagement with the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).
He said the initiative was aimed at ensuring that Nigerians, particularly young people, had access to first-hand information on ongoing and completed federal infrastructure projects across the country.
“We have to fight this social media war. So, we have to launch 4,000 social media influencers to tell our stories.
I want you to advise me on how to do it. I am proud of what the President is doing in infrastructure. I am proud of the quality he has made in various sectors of the economy. So, we have to tell our stories,” he said.
The minister said the government needed to communicate its infrastructure interventions more effectively, noting that there was a need for Nigerians to see and understand the projects being executed across the country.
“If you don’t say ‘I am’, nobody will tell you who you are,” Umahi said.
He urged the NANS leadership and other student groups to visit federal infrastructure projects and share their observations with the public.
According to him, students who undertake such inspections would be able to provide first-hand accounts of the projects and advise government on areas requiring improvement.
Umahi described President Bola Tinubu as an infrastructure President, saying that construction activities were ongoing across different parts of the country.
“Tell me any way in this country, any region that is not a construction site. And so, we have enough to campaign for the President. We have enough,” he said.
The minister also said the ministry would continue to incorporate infrastructure that would improve access and safety around university campuses.
He said requests by students for pedestrian bridges and other safety infrastructure were being considered, citing the University of Abuja and Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, as examples.
Umahi said the ministry would also explore the construction of spur roads leading to university campuses where necessary as part of future road projects.
On the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, he said the main pavement covering 105 kilometres of the section under construction was expected to be completed by November.
Earlier, the NANS President, Comrade Akinteye Babatunde Afeez, had called for the construction of a pedestrian bridge at the Federal Co-operative College, Kaduna, to improve students’ safety along the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano highway.
Afeez’s recommendation was contained in a report the students’ body presented to the Minister on the NANS’
Northwest leg of its nationwide Federal Government roads project tour.
He said the recommendation followed the group’s physical inspection of several federal road projects across Kano, Jigawa, Kaduna and Sokoto states.
The NANS president said the pedestrian bridge was necessary because of the volume of movement along the route and its proximity to the Federal Co-operative College.
Afeez also said the nationwide tour was undertaken to enable students to physically assess the progress of federal road projects, particularly those connecting tertiary institutions and surrounding communities.
According to him, the delegation inspected projects including the Kano-Kwanar Danja-Hadejia Road, Kano Northern Bypass, Kano-Maiduguri Road, Kano-Katsina Road, Kaduna-Kano Road, Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Road, Zaria-Funtua-Sokoto Road, Mando-Birnin Gwari Road, Sokoto-Badagry Road and Illela-Dukamaje Road.
He said the roads were critical to students because they provided daily access to campuses, lectures, examinations and other academic activities.
Afeez also commended the Federal Government for the scale and spread of road projects across the Northwest, saying the projects had the potential to improve connectivity between communities, cities and states.
