The Presidency has cited the ongoing Bola Ahmed Tinubu Barracks Phase II in Abuja as one of the tangible benefits of resources freed up by the removal of fuel subsidy, saying the military housing project will provide accommodation for more than 1,000 soldiers and their families.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, Dr Sunday Dare, said the development showed how funds previously committed to fuel subsidy were being redirected to infrastructure and other projects intended to create lasting public assets.
Dare spoke on Tuesday when a Presidential Media Team, which included the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Digital and New Media, Otega Ogra, inspected the sprawling military housing project in Abuja.
When completed and fully occupied, the new military community is expected to serve more than 6,000 people, comprising soldiers and their family members, while providing other facilities required for a functional residential community.
The project, approved and funded by the Federal Government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, comprises a block of 30 family quarters, six blocks of senior officers’ accommodation, an Army club, MAMI market, bridges, drainage systems and other supporting infrastructure.
Dare said the project represented part of the administration’s decision to redirect public resources following the removal of fuel subsidy, describing it as evidence that some of the government’s economic reforms were beginning to produce visible physical assets.
He urged Nigerians to continue to support the administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda, arguing that the benefits of its policies were becoming increasingly evident across different sectors of the economy.
Beyond providing accommodation, the Presidency said the project formed part of a broader effort to improve the welfare of military personnel and strengthen the country’s security architecture by ensuring that soldiers and their families have access to decent living conditions.
At the Nigerian Army level, Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Waidi Shaibu, is overseeing the implementation of a wider programme of military infrastructure and welfare projects intended to strengthen personnel support, logistics and operational readiness.
The Abuja development is among barracks construction and expansion projects being undertaken by the Army, with similar works reported in Ekiti, Ebonyi and Osun states as part of efforts to close accommodation and infrastructure gaps confronting personnel.
The Army has previously identified improved housing as a major part of Shaibu’s ‘Soldier First’ approach, linking personnel welfare with morale and operational effectiveness. Phase II of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Barracks was already described by the Army in July as being at an advanced stage.
The Army had broken ground for the second phase in December 2025 as part of measures to address its accommodation deficit, with Shaibu saying at the time that improved housing would also strengthen unit cohesion, force posture and operational sustainability.
During Tuesday’s inspection, Ogra also drew attention to the economic dimension of the project, saying thousands of Nigerians were benefiting directly and indirectly from construction activities at the site.
He said engineers, artisans, labourers, technicians, suppliers and other service providers were participating in the project, generating incomes and economic activities even before the barracks is completed and occupied.
One of the labourers at the site, identified as Usman, said securing employment on the project had changed his personal circumstances, enabling him to get married and start a family after previously struggling to find work.
The Presidency said his experience illustrated the wider economic impact of major public infrastructure investments, which create opportunities for workers, contractors and businesses while producing assets for long-term public use.
The administration also linked the barracks project to its wider investments in military welfare, personnel, equipment, training and operational capacity as security forces confront terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other threats across the country.
Officials said the approach recognised military welfare as an integral part of national security, arguing that the effectiveness of personnel deployed to difficult operational environments is also connected to the security and welfare of their families.
For the Army, the project is expected to provide a more stable residential environment for personnel while supporting its longer-term efforts to strengthen infrastructure needed for an expanding force.
The Presidency said the emerging military infrastructure programme reflected a partnership in which the Federal Government provides policy direction and funding while the Army leadership, under Shaibu, is responsible for translating the investments into sustainable institutional and operational benefits.
With construction and expansion projects stretching beyond Abuja to other parts of the country, the administration said the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Barracks Phase II represents part of a wider effort to improve living conditions for troops and reinforce the physical infrastructure underpinning the Nigerian Army’s operations.