In a blistering rebuttal to Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso’s charges of regional marginalisation, State House spokesman Sunday Dare declared: “Senator Kwankwaso, you are wrong.
The North is not neglected” — and then proceeded to catalogue 43 flagship initiatives across Northern Nigeria, executed within just two years of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
This onslaught of data aims to demolish the narrative that the North has been sidelined in favour of the South.
Highways and Super‑Corridors
Chief among the achievements is the sweeping rehabilitation and construction of arterial highways. The 375 km Abuja–Kaduna–Zaria–Kano expressway, long plagued by banditry and decay, has not only been partially restored but upgraded to a dual carriageway in strategic segments.
Simultaneously, the Sokoto–Badagry expressway and the Sokoto–Zamfara–Katsina route have seen fresh tarmac and expanded lanes, signalling a departure from the glacial progress under previous administrations.
Agricultural Transformation
In the agrarian belt, a $158.15 million Agricultural Value Chain Programme now spans nine Northern states, injecting capital into value addition, storage and market access for staples such as maize, sorghum and rice.
Moreover, the Kolmani Integrated Development Project, covering Bauchi and Gombe, aims to lift hundreds of thousands from subsistence farming into commercial agriculture, harking back to the vision of the Green Revolution yet this time with robust private‑sector partnerships.
Climate‑Smart Land Reclamation
Perhaps most striking is the World Bank–funded Agro‑Climatic Resilience in Semi‑Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) initiative, targeting 1 million ha of degraded land across the Sahelian states.
Launched in mid‑2023, this six‑year programme marks the first time climate resilience has been mainstreamed at scale in Northern Nigeria’s soil restoration efforts, eclipsing earlier piecemeal erosion controls of the 2010s.
Health Infrastructure Overhaul
On health, no fewer than 14 tertiary institutions have benefitted from expansions or new facilities — from Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital in Zaria to the Federal Medical Centre in Nguru.
Adding to these are some 1,000 revitalised Primary Health Centres, a critical grassroots buffer against endemic diseases, a scale not seen since the Alma‑Ata Declaration echoes of the 1970s.
Energy and Gas Connectivity
Energy projects underpin the connectivity push: the 614 km Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) gas pipeline, slated for completion in Q1 2025, promises to transport natural gas from the South to feed power plants in the North, a cornerstone of the administration’s power‑sector reform.
Paired with planned solar installations like the 50 MW ABIBA station in Kaduna, these schemes counter the chronic blackouts that once characterised the region.
Rail, Metro and Trade Corridors
Rail upgrades have accelerated too. The Kaduna–Kano segment of the Lagos–Kano Standard Gauge Railway is set to link these commercial hubs by late 2026, boosted by a $255 million loan from China Development Bank — a boost Erdoğan‑style belt and road thrust in Africa.
Meanwhile, rehabilitation of the Abuja light rail and planning for a Kano light‑metro echo the kind of integrated urban transit previously found only in South Africa and Egypt.
Environmental and Strategic Programmes
Beyond hard infrastructure, Dare highlighted institutional revamps:
The National Agency for the Great Green Wall now wields renewed funding and mandate to combat desertification, while the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) has completed watershed works in key Northern catchments — efforts that rival Brazil’s Amazon interventions in scope.
Conclusion: A Narrative Rewritten
These initiatives collectively represent an unprecedented blitz of capital, expertise and political will in Northern Nigeria.
As Dare concluded, “The North is covered; it is not left behind,” challenging Kwankwaso to present concrete evidence to the contrary.
When stacked against the slow‑burn stagnation of earlier regimes, Tinubu’s two‑year tally does not just refute neglect — it rewrites the script on Northern development.
Blog Tags (for CMS):
Tinubu, Northern Nigeria, Infrastructure, ACReSAL, AKK Pipeline, Health Reform, Political Investigative
