The Presidency has countered Rabiu Kwankwaso, former Governor of Kano State, who accused President Bola Tinubu of neglecting the Northern region of Nigeria.
Kwankwaso made the accusation on Thursday during a Stakeholders’ Dialogue on the 2025 Constitutional Amendment organised by the Kano State Government.
The 2023 presidential candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) said he was concerned by the developmental challenges in Northern Nigeria, accusing President Tinubu of a lopsided distribution of the commonwealth in the country.
Kwankwaso lamented that the North keeps on struggling with limited resources, while he berated the Federal Government, under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for continuously allocating substantial resources to developmental projects in the Southern region of Nigeria.
“From the information available to us, it’s like most of the national budget is now tilting in one direction in this country,” Kwankwaso said.
“That is why we have insecurity, we have poverty and so on. It is happening here mainly, but like a desert, it would go everywhere.
“Most roads in the northern region remain in a deplorable condition, whilst the APC government continues to allocate lump budgetary provisions for infrastructural development in the southern region.”
Reacting on Friday, the presidency in a statement by Sunday Dare, Special Adviser, Media & Public Communication/Spokesperson to President Tinubu said Kwankwaso got it wrong.
Dare said that the North has not been neglected, explaining that President Tinubu has the North covered and that the Northern region of Nigeria has not been left behind.
The former Minister of Sports also gave some samplers/evidence of the projects carried out by the Tinubu government in the North.
“For starters : Under President Tinubu, Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Expressway, Sokoto-Badagry Expressway and Sokoto-Zamfara-Katsina Expressway,” Dare wrote in a post on his official X account.
AGRICULTURE
1. \$158.15m Agriculture Value Chain (VCN) Programme for nine Northern states
2. Kolmani Integrated Development Project (Bauchi and Gombe States)
3. Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) — a six-year World Bank–funded programme to restore 1 million hectares of degraded land and improve climate resilience in Northern Nigeria states
4. Kano River Project (irrigation scheme) — large-scale integrated irrigation development in Kano State, commissioned in 2023 and operational under the current administration
HEALTH
5. Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Kaduna (North West)
6. Federal Teaching Hospital, Katsina (North West)
7. University of Jos Teaching Hospital, Jos, Plateau (North Central)
8. Reference Hospital, Kaduna (North West)
9. Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto (North West)
10. Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi (North East)
11. Harmony Advanced Diagnostic Centre Complex, Ilorin, Kwara (North Central)
12. Federal Medical Centre, Nguru, Yobe (North East)
13. Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Plateau (North Central) — additional expansion
14. Reinvigoration of about 1,000 Primary Health Centers, PHCS in the North
ROADS AND HIGHWAYS
15. Kano–Kongolam Road (Section II: Kano–Kanwar–Danja–Hadejia)
16. Yakasai–Zalli Road
17. 1,068 km Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway (Northern section including Sokoto and Kebbi)
18. 258 km, 3-lane Carriageway (Section 2, Phase 2A: CH 120+000–CH 378+000) in Gulumbe, Kebbi State
19. Abuja–Kaduna–Zaria–Kano Dual Carriageway
20. Biu–Kangiwa–Kamba–Gaya–Niger Republic Road (30 km segment)
21. Malando–Garin Baka–Ngaski–Wara Road (CH.0+000 – CH.79+586)
22. Koko–Besse–Zaria–Kala Road
23. Abuja–Kaduna–Kano Highway (375 km)
24. Repair of the Gamboru Bridge (Gamboru–Ngala–Kala–Balde Road in Borno State)
25. Expansion of Mararaba–Keffi Road (43.65 km)
26. Construction of Lafia Bypass Road (Nasarawa State)
27. Kano–Maiduguri Dual Carriageway
28. Adamawa–Taraba Single Carriageway
29. Adamawa–Borno Single Carriageway
30. Kaduna–Jos Road (Single Carriageway)
31. Zaria–Funtua–Gusau–Sokoto Road (Dual Carriageway)
32. Zaria–Hunkuyi–Daya Road (Sections I, II & III – 152.67 km) — rehabilitation project in Kaduna and Kano States
33. Reconstruction of Dikwa–Gamboru–Ngala Road (49.55 km) — strategic corridor reconstruction in Borno State
ENERGY AND GAS
34. Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano Gas Pipeline (AKK) (614 km)
35. Gwagwalada Power Plant (FCT, Abuja – connected with AKK pipeline)
36. ABIBA Solar Power Station, Kaduna (50 MW) — planned solar power plant to boost renewable energy capacity in Kaduna State
RAIL AND METRO
37. Kaduna–Kano Rail Line (203 km, part of Lagos-Kano Rail Project)
38. Kano–Maradi Rail Line (285 km, linking Kano, Jigawa, Katsina to Maradi in Niger Republic)
39. Kaduna Light Rail System — ₦100 billion budget allocation to develop light rail public transport in Kaduna
40. Abuja Metro Line Rehabilitation (Abuja Light Rail)
WATERWAYS & TRADE CORRIDORS
41. Trans-Sahara Trade Route — infrastructure development to connect trade routes from Calabar through Nasarawa and Abuja towards Northern Nigeria and beyond
NATIONAL PROGRAMMES & INSTITUTIONS
42. National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) — renewed mandate and leadership for desertification combat in Northern Nigeria
43. Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) — ongoing erosion control and watershed infrastructure development in the North.
Dare added that all of these projects have been done in the Northern region of Nigeria in only two years of President Tinubu’s administration.
