The Presidency has firmly rejected claims by former Kano State Governor and 2023 presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, that President Bola Tinubu’s administration has sidelined Northern Nigeria in the distribution of federal projects.
Responding via a detailed statement posted on Friday to his verified X (formerly Twitter) account, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, described Kwankwaso’s allegations as unfounded and misleading.
“Senator Kwankwaso, you are wrong. The North is not neglected. President Tinubu has the North covered,” Dare asserted, accompanying his rebuttal with a list of ongoing and completed federal projects across various northern states.
Key infrastructure projects highlighted include the Abuja–Kaduna–Kano Expressway, the Sokoto–Zamfara–Katsina Expressway, and sections of the Sokoto–Badagry Superhighway. He added that critical roads connecting towns such as Zaria, Funtua, Gusau, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Lafia, and Gaya are under construction or rehabilitation.
In the agriculture sector, Dare cited initiatives such as the $158 million Agricultural Value Chain Programme benefiting nine northern states, the Kolmani Integrated Development Project in Bauchi and Gombe, and the World Bank–supported Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL).
He also referenced the operational Kano River Irrigation Project, commissioned in 2023 and now fully functioning under the Tinubu administration.
In the health sector, Dare pointed to federal investments in teaching hospitals and diagnostic centres located in Zaria, Jos, Katsina, Sokoto, Ilorin, Bauchi, and Yobe. More than 1,000 primary healthcare centres across the North are also being revitalised under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
On energy and transportation, Dare underscored projects such as the 614-kilometre Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline, the Gwagwalada Power Plant, and the planned 50-megawatt ABIBA Solar Power Station in Kaduna. Major rail projects include the Kaduna–Kano railway (203km), Kano–Maradi rail (285km), and a ₦100 billion allocation for the proposed Kaduna Light Rail.
He also mentioned the ongoing rehabilitation of the Abuja Metro Line and the establishment of inland trade infrastructure via the Trans-Sahara Trade Corridor stretching from Calabar to Nasarawa and further into the North.
Environmental programmes like the Great Green Wall initiative and the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) were also listed as targeted interventions addressing regional challenges in Northern Nigeria.
“These are not promises but tangible evidence of a government that is committed to balanced national development,” Dare said, stressing that most of the listed projects have either commenced or significantly progressed within Tinubu’s first two years in office.
