The aphorism that when like minds work on same issue from different points, they still achieve a convergence has once again held true. The BAT-Ideological group advocated for grassroots development in Nigeria through its internal memo dated April 1st 2026 where the group stated that it is aware that the president allocation to state and local government has increased. The group encouraged all State coordinator to identify community and wards that lack basic things such as water supply, health care center, soft loan for farmers and market women and other essential infrastructure

The president has bought fully into this idea and made a beautiful move which led to the president approving ₦17 billion for grassroots development for 8,804 wards on April 22, 2026. This move was spearheaded by the memo of BAT-IG.
The announcement of this fund aligns with the ongoing strategic mobilization efforts by BAT-Ideological group which has been actively positioning themselves to facilitate grassroots engagement.

Earlier last month, BAT-IG hosted a program for military and paramilitary in Abuja, part of what was discussed was to become a community project facilitator. BAT-IG has recorded a lot of success through this community development initiative ranging from Rigasa to Asa and many more communities we have reached out to. We always encourage our member to be a community development facilitator.

This is evident that the president who is our mentor and leader is listening and acting upon our initiative and we apricate this move. It is obvious that the president has the intention to make sure development reaches all nooks and crannies of the country in a flow from bottom up.

We suggest and encourage the President to monitor this groundbreaking initiative for it to achieve the intended impact. And also we call on the President to increase the funds allocated to it, N17 billion is a bit paltry according to the research we have made and reports from all our state coordinator all over the state.

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Bamidele Atoyebi is the Convener of BAT Ideological Group, National Coordinator of Accountability and Policy Monitoring and a publisher at Unfiltered and Mining Reporting