The Presidency has firmly denied claims made by former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, accusing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration of favouring the South in federal infrastructure projects while neglecting the North.
Kwankwaso made the allegation on Thursday during the Kano State Stakeholders’ Dialogue on the 2025 Constitutional Amendment, where he expressed concerns over what he described as uneven distribution of national resources.
“From the information available to us, it appears most of the national budget is now skewed in one direction,” he said. “I want to advise those attempting to concentrate everything in one region to remember that many of the problems in the North—such as insecurity and poverty—stem from a lack of resources and the mismanagement of the little available. Like a desert, these challenges will eventually spread.”
In response, Presidential spokesman Sunday Dare, via a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account, dismissed the claims as inaccurate, insisting that the North is not being marginalized.
Dare highlighted several ongoing federal projects in the region, stating: “The assertion that the North has been sidelined is unfounded. The Tinubu administration is undertaking major projects in the North across critical sectors like roads, agriculture, healthcare, and energy.”
Among the infrastructure projects he listed were the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Expressway, Sokoto-Badagry Expressway, and the Sokoto-Zamfara-Katsina Road. He also noted substantial investments in agriculture, such as the $158.15 million Agriculture Value Chain Programme across nine northern states, the Kolmani Integrated Development Project in Bauchi and Gombe, and the World Bank–backed ACReSAL project, which aims to restore over one million hectares of degraded land.
In the healthcare sector, Dare pointed to upgrades at key institutions including Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital in Zaria, Federal Teaching Hospital in Katsina, University of Jos Teaching Hospital, and the rehabilitation of over 1,000 primary healthcare centres across northern Nigeria.
On transportation, he cited the ongoing Kaduna-Kano and Kano-Maradi railway projects, as well as the rehabilitation of the Abuja light rail system. In the energy sector, he mentioned the ABIBA 50 MW Solar Power Station in Kaduna and extensive road projects such as the Zaria-Funtua-Gusau-Sokoto Dual Carriageway and the Dikwa-Gamboru-Ngala Road.
Dare concluded by emphasizing that in just two years, President Tinubu has laid the groundwork for long-term development in northern Nigeria, contrary to suggestions of regional bias.
