Renewed Hope Ambassadors unveil plan for nationwide project tour

By Ayorinde Oluokun

The Presidency and leaders of Renewed Hope Ambassadors, RHA, on Monday unveiled plan to take the media on a nationwide tour of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ongoing or already completed projects across the country.

The tour will also include visits to projects executed by states to reflect how increased allocation from the federation account as a result of the reforms of President Tinubu is enabling governments at the sub-national level to execute more developmental projects for the benefit of their people.
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The tour under the aegis of Renewed Hope Ambassadors, a platform set up to champion the re-election bid of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will begin from the Northwest.

This, it was gathered was because of the importance of the Northwest to the reelection of the president.

Speaking during a press briefing ahead of the planned tour on Monday, the special adviser to the President on media and strategy Bayo Onanuga, said the trip was planned to showcase the achievements of the Tinubu’s administration.

He added that journalists and other stakeholders would be taken to project sites to confirm the existence of the projects.

The aim, he said was to aid their reporting of the strides being recorded by the administration across the various sectors.

Onanuga added that President Tinubu’s investment in infrastructure, such as roads have enabled growth in economic activity by facilitating agriculture, trading and transportation across the country.

He also noted that the reforms embarked on by President Tinubu have led to increase in financial allocations to sub-national governments and consequently, their ability to deliver more projects for their people.

The tour, he said, was to spotlight such achievements.

“Sometimes you see reports or posts about projects and people are surprised, saying oh, the government has done so much! It’s simply because they are not fully aware. That is why we want journalists to see these projects directly,” Onanuga said.

“When you go to states, you are not just seeing federal projects, but also what states are doing. Many states are now able to execute projects because of reforms that made more funds available,” he said.

Speaking in the same vein, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Special Duties and Director of Media for the Renewed Hope Ambassadors, Tunde Rahman, said the tour of the projects will help to adequately correct misinformation about ongoing government projects.

He also dismissed claim that the Tinubu’s administration has neglected the Northern part of the country as he noted that there are road, health facilities and rail development projects completed or going on in the region.

He listed one of the major projects to include ongoing rail construction to link Kano to Maradi.

He added that such infrastructure projects will be given wide publicity by the Renewed Hope Ambassadors as part of efforts to project the strides of the Tinubu’s administration over the past three years.

“The RHA is becoming the major wheel driving the president’s second term ambition. Thus, the tour is to let people see for themselves that developmental projects are going on everywhere in Nigeria.

“It is not only federal projects; more state projects are springing up because governors – whether of the ruling party or the opposition – are getting more FAAC allocations.

“Their ability to carry out more projects is directly as a result of the daring, but necessary economic reforms carried out by President Tinubu,” he said.

“This is about making information accessible. There is a lot to present, and Nigerians need to see what has been done,” he said.

Rahman also revealed that a digital platform has been launched to provide public access to information on government projects and reforms.

This, he said will allow Nigerians to have access to verified materials.

He also appealed to the media to support efforts to disseminate government activities to bridge the gap between implementation and public understanding.

Also speaking at the event, Rabiu Ibrahim, the Senior Special Assistant to the Minister of Information, said the nationwide tour would enable Nigerians to be better informed about Federal Government’s projects.

He said this will enable the media to get to communities across Nigeria to see federal projects and how they are impacting on the people.

Ibrahim listed some of the projects being executed by the Tinubu’s administration in the Northwest to include railways and the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline nearing completion.

He also said students in the Northern part of the country have been the major beneficiaries of Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) initiative.

“We want a situation where an ordinary Nigerian in a village can identify a project and say this is a Federal Government project in my community or state. If you don’t communicate to the public, whatever is being done will not be appreciated. Others may shape the narrative and present the government as not doing enough,” he said.

Ibrahim urged media organisations to support the dissemination of verified information on the achievements of the Tinubu’s administration through radio and community platforms.

“We are not asking anyone to report anything that is not factual. The aim is to present verified information about what the government has done and ensure it reaches the public,” he said.

Also speaking at the event, government officials listed some of the interventions of the administration in the areas of transport, health, and social programmes that are already benefitting the populace.

For one, Engineer Finbarr James Zirra, the Director of Railway Transportation Services in the Federal Ministry of Transportation said work on the Kaduna-Kano and Kano-Maradi segments of rail project is now at over 50 per cent, up from just about 15 per cent in mid-2023.

Zirra also said president had pushed for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail line covering 1,443kilometres while efforts to connect the South-South, South-East and North-East zones were on-going.

According to him, ongoing investments in rail modernisation is easing road congestion, with freight services removing heavy truck traffic from highways, while new corridors and rail hubs are being developed to improve the movement of goods and people.

Also speaking, Nasir Mohammed, an aide of the Minister of Health and Social Welfare identified one of the critical interventions of the Tinubu’s administration in the health sector to include the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Health Care Value Chain (PVAC).

He said the initiative has led to investments in local production of drugs including vaccines and other consumables.

He, however lamented that work on some of the projects are being affected by activities of vandals.