By Mohammed Bello Doka
President Bola Tinubu stood before the nation on Tuesday and declared that Northern Nigeria is the biggest beneficiary of his economic reforms. Speaking through the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, at the APC Professionals Forum Policy Roundtable in Abuja, the President proclaimed that the North would emerge as the greatest winner from his administration’s policies. He argued that the region would benefit from increased trade with neighbouring countries including Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, Southern Sudan, Northern Cameroon, and the Central African Republic. He cited grand infrastructure projects like the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline, the Lagos-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano corridor, the Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway, and the proposed Calabar-Maiduguri Trans-Sahara Super Highway as evidence of his commitment to the North.
But the North is not blind. And the North is not fooled. The same President who now speaks of trade with Niger, Chad, and Burkina Faso is the same man who, as head of the Economic Community of West African States, threatened military intervention against Niger following the July 26, 2023 coup. He threatened war against these very countries. He called meetings of ECOWAS Command Chiefs almost daily. The North warned him then that a war with Niger Republic would amount to a war with the North. He did not listen. Now he tells the North that trade with these same countries will be its salvation. The North is not blind.
The Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline he cites as his achievement was actually a Buhari-era legacy project launched in 2020 at a cost of $2.8 billion. Under Tinubu, the project has witnessed series of delays, including funding crises. It has missed several completion deadlines. The funding now depends entirely on NNPC Limited and the Nigerian government, with progress remaining slow.
The Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway he trumpets is a 1,000-kilometre project intended to move agricultural produce and solid minerals from the North to the South. In August 2025, the Federal Executive Council approved N2 trillion for sections of the Sokoto-Badagry highway. But compare this to the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, for which N1.65 trillion was approved for just 80.35 kilometres. That is over N20 billion per kilometre for the South. Meanwhile, the Sokoto-Badagry road crawls at a snail’s pace while southern roads are fast-tracked to completion. And let us not forget the gold refinery in Lagos, sited in a state that has no single gold mine. The gold is mined from Northern soil. Yet the refinery is in Lagos. The North extracts the gold. The South refines the wealth. The North is not blind. The President who now claims the North is the biggest beneficiary of his reforms presided over a Federal Executive Council that in November 2025 approved road contracts worth over N7 trillion. Of this, the South-West received the lion’s share. The North received crumbs. The North is not blind.
The Arewa Consultative Forum, the premier socio-political organisation representing the interests of Northern Nigeria, has described the President’s claim as surreal, cynical, and in sour taste. The Middle Belt Forum has also faulted the assertion. And they are right. How can a region that received barely seven percent of federal road contract approvals in November 2025 be described as the biggest beneficiary of anything? How can a region that was allocated a paltry N24 billion naira out of N1.013 trillion naira in the 2025 budget be told it is the greatest winner?
The ACF Chairman, Bashir Dalhatu, has expressed deep concerns over what he described as the growing marginalisation of Northern Nigeria under the Tinubu administration. He pointed out that unlike the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the Second Niger Bridge, not one single road of strategic importance to the North has been completed or even properly maintained in the last twenty years. This is not an oversight. This is not an accident. This is a calculated act of economic sabotage deliberately designed to deepen regional inequality and suppress Northern development.
But the infrastructure betrayal is only half the story. The true measure of this administration’s contempt for the North is found in its response to insecurity. The Northern Elders Forum has called on President Tinubu to declare a state of emergency in Northern Nigeria, citing the extraordinary scale of insecurity and the government’s constitutional obligations to protect lives. The forum painted a grim picture of Northern Nigeria, warning that terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping have devastated farming, commerce, and transportation. The Arewa Consultative Forum has expressed disappointment with the Tinubu administration, citing neglect and marginalisation of Northern Nigeria. Yet when insecurity spread to the South-West, the response was immediate, overwhelming, and deeply revealing.
When students and teachers were abducted in Oyo State, President Tinubu promptly dispatched his Chief of Staff, the National Security Adviser, and the Inspector General of Police. The North East Civil Society Network has asked the question that every fair-minded Nigerian must confront: does that mean some Nigerian children are more precious than others? Does that mean children from the North East are less Nigerian than those from the South? When the federal government can dispatch a full security team to Oyo State to ensure rescue before they leave, why can they not do the same for Borno State? How many times has this happened in the North? How many times have we seen this level of response? The silence of the Presidency on the fate of hundreds of children abducted in Borno State speaks volumes. The North is not blind.
Then came the tax reform bills. Here was the ultimate test of this administration’s commitment to the North. The Northern Governors Forum immediately rejected the bills, arguing that the proposed model for the distribution of Value Added Tax would severely disadvantage the region. Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State warned that only Lagos and Rivers States would benefit from the scheme. Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed accused the reforms of being anti-North and capable of triggering anarchy from the region. Borno South Senator Ali Ndume led the pack of northern lawmakers opposed to the bills. Prominent northerners including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar openly voiced their opposition. Northern elders, traditional rulers, and even members of the President’s own party from the North spoke out strongly. Yet Tinubu pressed on. He sent emissaries to the northern elite, but the northern governors remained adamant. The President refused to listen. He refused to withdraw the bills. He refused to consult meaningfully. The North, which had given him over 64 percent of his votes in 2023, was told that its concerns did not matter.
The pattern is unmistakable. When the North speaks, the President does not listen. When the North bleeds, the President does not act. When the North is abducted, the President does not visit. When the North protests, the President ignores. When the North asks for consultation, the President pushes ahead regardless. This is not governance. This is not leadership. This is contempt dressed in the robes of reform.
And here is the question that haunts every thinking Northerner: if this is how President Tinubu treats the North when he needs our votes for reelection, what will he do when he no longer needs us? If he can ignore the cries of northern governors, northern senators, northern elders, and northern citizens while campaigning for a second term, what fate awaits the North after 2027? The Arewa Consultative Forum has already raised a panel to review Tinubu’s northern policies. The North has lost faith. And rightly so.
The North is not blind. We see the billions flowing to the South-West while our roads crumble. We see the swift response to southern insecurity while our children are abducted by the hundreds and our people are killed by the thousands. We see the tax reform bills that will enrich Lagos and impoverish our states. We see the systematic marginalisation dressed in the language of reform. We see the betrayal of the trust we placed in a man who promised to govern all Nigerians equally. We see a President who threatened war with our Sahel neighbours now claiming trade with them as his achievement. We see a Buhari-era pipeline he starved of funding now cited as his legacy. We see a highway designed to move our resources south while a gold refinery in Lagos processes what the North mines. We see all of this. And we will not forget.
The North delivered the presidency to Bola Tinubu. The North will not deliver it again. The North is not blind, and the North will not be silent. The North will remember.
Mohammed Bello Doka is a Nigerian journalist, writer and media professional based in Abuja. His writing focuses on Nigerian politics, governance, security challenges and the country’s place within wider African and international affairs.
Doka has a particular interest in Northern Nigeria, democratic governance, regional security and the political and socioeconomic factors shaping contemporary Nigeria.
