Vice President Kashim Shettima on Wednesday urged residents of Nasarawa State to support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027, declaring the administration’s infrastructure drive as a turning point for the economy.
Speaking at the APC presidential campaign rally in Lafia, Shettima described the Akwanga-Jos-Bauchi-Gombe-Biu-Maiduguri Superhighway as a major game changer that would connect the North-Central and North-East, link agricultural and industrial centers to markets, cut transport costs and create jobs.
He presented it alongside the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway as projects intended to knit Nigeria’s regional economies more closely together.
“We have promised to connect producers and markets,” Shettima said, adding, “We have promised to ease movement across regions… and diminish costs that burden traders and families.”
The Vice President argued that better roads would speed the movement of farm produce, solid minerals and manufactured goods, reducing the cost of doing business in a country where poor transport links often keep producers isolated from markets.
He said the infrastructure push complements fiscal and economic reforms intended to strengthen public finances and restore investor confidence.
Shettima acknowledged that the reforms have imposed short-term hardship but insisted that Nigeria has passed the most difficult phase.
“We are not in denial about the short-term pain that has accompanied our reforms,” he said, adding, “We have already come through that surgery, and believe me, it was successful.”
His remarks came as the APC began mobilizing for the 2027 elections.
The Lafia rally brought together the party’s national chairman, Nentawe Yilwatda; House Speaker Tajudeen Abbas; Progressive Governors Forum Chairman Hope Uzodimma; and Nasarawa APC governorship candidate Ahmed Wadada.
Shettima also sought to localize the message, saying Nasarawa’s agricultural and mineral wealth could yield greater returns if paired with better infrastructure and domestic processing.
He announced that Tinubu had approved converting the Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa, into the Federal University of Mining, Engineering and Technology, a move intended to train engineers and technicians for the solid-minerals sector.
He cited the recently commissioned Diamond New Energy Lithium Processing Plant in the state as evidence of the government’s push to process minerals locally rather than export them raw.
He also highlighted the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) as a source of support for students pursuing higher education.
The rally underscored the APC’s effort to turn infrastructure delivery into a durable political argument ahead of next year’s vote.
Shettima urged supporters to avoid violence and run issue-based campaigns, while party leaders called on Nasarawa voters to back Tinubu and the party’s candidates across the ballot.
Before the rally, Shettima visited the Emir of Lafia, Justice Sidi Bage Muhammad I (retd.), describing Nasarawa as a “miniature Nigeria” because of its ethnic and cultural diversity.
The Emir wished the President success in the election, saying Nigerians would ultimately choose their leader.
