By Babatunji Wusu
-
The Presidency dismissed allegations of neglect in Northern Nigeria under President Bola Tinubu, citing over 40 major infrastructure and development projects spanning transport, agriculture, health, and energy sectors across the North.
-
Key infrastructure initiatives include highways like the Abuja–Kaduna–Kano Expressway and the Sokoto–Badagry Super Highway, ongoing rail projects such as the Kaduna–Kano and Kano–Maradi rail lines, and significant investments in agriculture and healthcare facilities.
-
Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group Afenifere criticized Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso’s remarks as unfair, dangerous, and inflammatory, emphasizing that the North benefited disproportionately from federal interventions during the Buhari era and pointing out ongoing projects under Tinubu’s administration.
-
Afenifere urged a focus on facts over sectional bias, highlighting that development takes time and warning against rhetoric that deepens regional tensions in Nigeria.
The Nigerian Presidency, through Special Adviser on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, strongly refuted claims that Northern Nigeria was being sidelined under President Bola Tinubu’s administration. Responding to critiques raised by Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party during a recent event in Kano, Dare highlighted that more than 40 significant federal projects are actively transforming the North. These initiatives cut across multiple sectors including transportation infrastructure, agricultural development, healthcare improvements, and energy projects.
Among the transportation projects are critical highways such as the Abuja–Kaduna–Kano Expressway and Sokoto–Badagry Super Highway, as well as the reconstruction of vital roads in conflict-affected Borno State. Rail infrastructure development is also advancing with the Kaduna–Kano Rail Line under construction, the Kano–Maradi Rail Line to enhance cross-border trade with Niger Republic, and a ₦100 billion investment in the Kaduna Light Rail System.
Agricultural investments have been bolstered through programs like the $158.15 million Agriculture Value Chain initiative across nine Northern states, along with the Kolmani Integrated Development Project and the World Bank-funded ACReSAL program targeting land restoration. In healthcare, expansions and upgrades of major centers such as Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital in Zaria and more than 1,000 primary health centers have been undertaken.
Energy sector projects include the fast-track Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline, development of the Gwagwalada Power Plant, and plans for the ABIBA Solar Power Station in Kaduna.
The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organization, Afenifere, condemned Kwankwaso’s allegations as “grossly misleading” and “deeply dangerous,” warning that such statements foment regional division. Afenifere recalled that during the Buhari administration (also a Northern-led government), resources were channeled disproportionately toward Northern development, including infrastructure like the Kano-Maradi railway. The organization also highlighted recent investments under Tinubu’s government, underscoring the ongoing expansion and expected broad regional benefits slated for completion by 2027 and beyond.
Afenifere appealed for statesmanship, urging Nigerian leaders and stakeholders to rise above ethnic sentiments and focus on unity and fact-based discourse in national conversations. The group asserts that the Northern region remains a core beneficiary of federal projects dedicated to national integration, economic growth, and security stabilization.
