The chairman of Appropriation Committee in the House of Representatives, Hon Abubakar Kabir Bichi, has dismissed allegations that President Bola Tinubu has turned his back on the North.
He made the statement while responding to questions from journalists in Kano yesterday, following a stakeholders meeting of All Progressives Congress (APC) at the residence of the former APC national chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje.
He said the president has initiated laudable projects in Nigeria, especially in the northern part of the country that include sectors like infrastructure, agriculture, education and security.
“On infrastructure under the federal ministry of works, there are many critical projects here in the north, from Abuja to Kano road, as you can see the project has gone far. The Kano to Kaduna road is completed while Abuja to Kaduna is almost completed.
“The president had revoked the initial project under the ministry of works and awarded it to a new contractor who has since commenced work on the site and has done extremely well with the project. From what we have discussed with the Minister of works, it will be completed before the end of the first quarter of next year” he stated.
He said in Kano State, a 200 kilometer road from Kano to Hadejia has been completed as well as the N250 billion Kano northern bypass road.
He added that the administration is constructing the light rail in the Kano metropolis.
“Currently the project is preparing to be procured any moment from now, the cost of the project is around $1 billion which is equivalent to about N1.5 trillion. This will be in Kano state, Kano metropolis.
“So with all these, it is funny for some people to say that the president is not interested in the northern part of this country, which is not true. Because I am the chairman of the Appropriation Committee and I know where we are appropriating the money and I know what he has done so far,” he said.
He appealed to the public to be objective and keep sentiments aside and appreciate the good works of president Bola Tinubu to the northern part of the country.
Speaking about the APC stakeholders meeting, the lawmaker explained that Kano is an APC state that gave the president the highest votes during the last general elections.
He however said the party needs to strategise as elections will be coming in two years time.
“We came here to thank the president and show our support to our state leader Dr Abdullahi Ganduje who has performed extremely well when he was the national chairman of the party.
“He has delivered very well, has turned some PDP states to APC, he has been able to convince some governors to come to APC. We are also telling the people of Kano state that we are supporting Dr Abdullahi Ganduje as our leader in the state” he stated.
