Former Kano State governor and 2023 presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of neglecting the northern region in the allocation of federal resources, especially on infrastructure development.
Speaking Thursday at the Kano State Stakeholders’ Dialogue on the 2025 Constitutional Amendment, Kwankwaso said the current administration has disproportionately concentrated developmental efforts in the southern part of the country while roads and infrastructure in the North remain in deplorable condition.
“Let me advise the Federal Government on the distribution of federal resources,” he said. “From the information available to us, it’s like most of the national budget is now tilting in one direction in this country.”
Citing the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway, Kwankwaso described the condition of major roads in the region as “terrible,” blaming the persistent infrastructural decay on years of neglect under the All Progressives Congress (APC) government.
“I had to come by road yesterday, and it was a hellish experience,” he recounted. “This road has been under construction since the beginning of the APC administration. Meanwhile, we hear of new roads being constructed from the South to the East.”
While acknowledging that infrastructure anywhere in Nigeria benefits the nation, Kwankwaso condemned what he termed the “dumping” of national resources in one part of the country at the expense of others. He attributed northern insecurity and poverty to insufficient investment and mismanagement of limited resources in the region.
“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,” he warned.
He called on President Tinubu to pursue a more equitable distribution of national resources and ensure every region feels the impact of federal governance. “This is the time for the government to change, to convince our people that the government is not just on one side of the country,” he said.
The remarks come amid speculation of ongoing political negotiations between Kwankwaso and Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general elections. The former governor has reportedly become a sought-after political ally, with the APC, PDP, Labour Party, and ADC all eyeing his support due to his influential base in the North, especially in Kano State.
Kwankwaso, who secured over 997,000 votes in Kano during the 2023 presidential election, remains a significant figure in the region, where his Kwankwasiyya movement enjoys strong grassroots support.
