The Federal Government has announced plans to deploy 4,000 social media influencers to highlight its infrastructure projects and communicate the administration’s achievements to the public ahead of the 2027 general elections.
​The Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, disclosed this on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, during an interactive session at the Ministry of Works headquarters in Abuja.
The meeting was held with executive members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), led by NANS President Comrade Akinteye Babatunde Afeez, following the student body’s nationwide inspection tour of federal road projects.
​Addressing the delegation, Umahi emphasised the need for the government to take control of its public narrative and engage directly with young Nigerians across digital platforms.
​”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,” Umahi stated. “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. If you don’t say ‘I am’, nobody will tell you who you are.”
​The initiative forms part of a broader communication and grassroots mobilization strategy ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Umahi, who was recently designated as the Deputy Director-General (Infrastructure, Mobilisation, and Sensitisation) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, noted that the administration’s project footprint across the geopolitical zones provides ample material to showcase.
​”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,” the minister added.
​The announcement came after NANS leadership presented its findings from a physical inspection tour of ongoing and completed road projects across northern states, including the Kano-Maiduguri Road, Kaduna-Kano Road, Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Highway, and the Sokoto-Badagry corridor.
​NANS President Akinteye Babatunde Afeez commended the progress of the projects but urged the ministry to step up public awareness, noting that many young citizens remain unaware of the scope of work completed due to competing narratives online.
Afeez also requested safety infrastructure around tertiary campuses, including a pedestrian bridge near the Federal Co-operative College in Kaduna.
​In response, Umahi assured the student leaders that the ministry is evaluating campus-adjacent infrastructure requests, citing ongoing considerations for pedestrian bridges and spur roads at the University of Abuja and Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, and urged student groups to continue conducting independent assessments of federal projects nationwide.
