The Traffic

Kwankwaso Accuses Tinubu of Neglecting the North: “National Budget Now Tilting Southward”
KANO 

In a fiery political salvo, former presidential candidate and northern heavyweight Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration of disproportionately favouring the southern region in national development efforts—leaving the North, in his words, “desperately underserved.”

Speaking at the Stakeholders’ Dialogue on the 2025 Constitutional Amendment held Thursday evening in Kano, Kwankwaso didn't mince words as he alleged an unbalanced distribution of the national budget.

“From the information available to us,” he declared, “most of the national budget is now tilting in one direction in this country.”

The former Kano governor and two-time leader of Nigeria’s most populous state warned that the concentration of national resources in the South could further widen the development gap, fuelling poverty, insecurity, and discontent across the North.

“What we’re witnessing,” he said, “is a systematic sidelining of the North. The national resources have been channelled predominantly toward the southern region, while the North is left grappling with dilapidated infrastructure, growing insecurity, and economic despair.”

Kwankwaso’s remarks come at a politically sensitive moment, as speculation swirls around the collapse of ongoing talks between him and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)—a development that could reshape 2027 political alignments.

Drawing from personal experience, Kwankwaso gave a vivid account of Nigeria’s infrastructural imbalance.

“Just yesterday, I was supposed to fly to Kano,” he narrated. “My airline delayed its takeoff, and I had to travel by road. From Abuja to Kaduna and then to Kano, the roads were horrific. These are roads that have been under construction since the early days of APC rule. And now we’re told new roads are being built linking the South to the East.”

He cautioned that the government’s perceived lopsidedness in project execution could have ripple effects across the country:

“This isn’t just about the North. When a part of the nation is abandoned, the consequences spread—just like a desert wind, it doesn’t stop at borders. That’s why we have insecurity and poverty escalating here and beyond.”

In a stern but measured tone, Kwankwaso urged President Tinubu to rise above sectionalism and pursue balanced development across the country’s six geopolitical zones.

“The struggle for power should not be a struggle to corner resources. What this country needs is fairness—an equitable distribution of our scarce national wealth. Anything less is a threat to unity and peace.”

By Haruna Yakubu Haruna