President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration came under intense scrutiny on Monday as the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) accused the federal government of abandoning Northern Nigeria.
However, Northern state governors and the Presidency swiftly countered the claim with evidence of infrastructural development and policy reforms benefiting the region.
The Wazirin Dutse and chairman of the ACF Board of Trustees, Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu, made the claim during a two-day interactive session on Government-Citizen Engagement organised by the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation (SABMF) at Arewa House, Kaduna.
He alleged that the North was receiving less attention despite contributing over 64 per cent of the votes that brought Tinubu to power in 2023.
Dalhatu lamented that almost two years into Tinubu’s administration, the region continues to grapple with persistent insecurity, weak infrastructure, underfunded agriculture, and an education crisis. According to him, the disparity in project allocations is glaring and calls into question the administration’s commitment to regional equity.
He particularly expressed disappointment with the distribution of road projects as captured in a May 2025 statement from the Ministry of Works, which, he said, showed ₦1.394 trillion allocated to the South-West, while the entire North-East got ₦30 billion and the North-West ₦105 billion.
“Insecurity remains the most pressing concern. Banditry, insurgency, and kidnapping continue unabated in many parts of the North, with only a few states like Kaduna and Bauchi experiencing relative calm,” he said.
He called on the federal government to demonstrate the political will to end the crisis.
Dalhatu also criticised the federal government’s policies on agriculture, claiming they have triggered a glut in local production due to increased food imports, forcing some rice mills in the region to shut down. He warned that such policies are weakening the region’s economic backbone.
He further raised concerns about the region’s power supply deficit and demanded that President Tinubu declare a state of emergency in the power sector. He urged the immediate completion of key energy projects like the Mambilla Hydropower Dam and the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Gas Pipeline, which, he said, are essential to Northern Nigeria’s industrial future.
On education, Dalhatu cited World Bank data indicating that 80 per cent of Nigeria’s estimated 20 million out-of-school children are from the North. He urged the Tinubu administration to relaunch the Universal Basic Education (UBE) scheme with greater vigour and focus on compulsory, free education.
He further decried the deteriorating state of public health infrastructure, resurgent diseases, and a surge in drug abuse among Northern youth, calling for urgent federal intervention in areas of primary healthcare, drug control, and potable water access.
While commending the commencement of oil exploration in Kolmani and Keana, the ACF BoT chairman
warned that only political will could ensure these developments translate into tangible gains for the people.
He described the slow pace of work on Ajaokuta Steel as disappointing and warned against an over-reliance on Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) to fund such strategic assets.
Dalhatu accused the Tinubu administration of sectionalism, cronyism, and insensitivity to the North’s plight.
“Correcting your own does not mean we seek to part ways,” he said, quoting a Hausa proverb. He proposed reviving the ACF–Federal Government Contact Committee to deepen dialogue.
But in a swift reaction, the Chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) and Governor of Gombe State, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, said President Tinubu had fulfilled the promises made to the North and was steadily delivering on his Renewed Hope Agenda.
Governor Yahaya said forums such as the SABMF engagement are essential for strengthening democracy and ensuring accountability, but stressed that the evidence on the ground shows tangible development in various sectors across the region.
“When Bola Ahmed Tinubu campaigned across the North in 2023, he made clear promises. Today, we are witnessing their fulfilment through completed and ongoing projects,” Yahaya said, adding that significant progress had been made on the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Expressway, Kano-Katsina-Maradi rail line, Kaduna refinery rehabilitation, and Kolmani oil development.
He also noted improvements in security across several states, citing the neutralisation of over 300 terror and bandit leaders.
Yahaya lauded the newly established Ministry of Livestock Development, calling it a major step towards modernising pastoral systems in the region.
According to him, new road and rail infrastructure, healthcare upgrades, agricultural initiatives, and interventions in education, especially on the Almajiri and out-of-school children menace, point to a deliberate strategy by the federal government to uplift the region.
In his address, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, who represented President Tinubu, reiterated the President’s commitment to inclusive development, stating categorically that “no region will be left behind.”
Akume, who led a delegation of ministers, agency heads, and presidential aides to the event, said the Renewed Hope Agenda is anchored on the pillars of equity, participation, accountability, and transparency.
He listed key projects currently underway in the North and across the country.
He mentioned the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway, Kano-Maradi and Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail projects, and several housing and agricultural programmes as evidence of the administration’s performance.
On economic reforms, Akume said the removal of fuel subsidy and unification of exchange rates were painful but necessary steps to stabilise the economy.
He revealed that over ₦53 billion had already been disbursed through the student loan scheme to benefit more than 400,000 tertiary students nationwide.
Akume said that Tinubu was on course to take Nigeria to the promised land, adding,
“I will urge politicians from the Northern Region to wait till 2031. Do not join a group that will stagnate the various developments achieved by President Tinubu. The president has positively touched all parts of the country and every citizen.”
He paid glowing tribute to the late Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello, describing him as a statesman who represented unity, vision, and inclusive governance. He also praised the contributions of other notable Northern leaders, including Chief Solomon Lar and Mallam Adamu Ciroma.
Serving and former Northern governors, ministers, National Security Adviser (NSA) Mal Nuhu Ribadu, SGF Senator George Akume, traditional leaders, heads of federal MDAs, security chiefs, and captains of industry were in attendance.
The engagement is expected to continue on Tuesday, 30th July 2025.
Tinubu’s Govt Listens to Nigerians – Shettima
Vice President Kashim Shettima, in a statement by his spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha, said the Nigerian leader has demonstrated time and again that his administration is “neither crafting policy in solitude nor assuming that technocracy alone delivers results.”
He reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to inclusive governance and responsive policymaking rooted in wide-ranging public engagement and empathy.
Represented by the Special Adviser on General Duties (Office of the Vice President), Dr Aliyu Umar Moddibo, the Vice President declared that the Tinubu administration is convening conversations and institutionalising listening.
“It is always a privilege to gather under the luminous legacy of Sir Ahmadu Bello; his memory reminds us that leadership is not simply about occupying office, but about shouldering the burden of service. What we nurture today is not just a government of the people but a government with the people,” he said.
VP Shettima highlighted several of the Tinubu administration’s reforms in which public input significantly shaped final outcomes, including tax policy, education access, and economic relief measures following the removal of fuel subsidies.
On the student loan law, initially passed as the Access to Higher Education Act, the VP said in response, the administration repealed and reenacted the law, “removing income ceilings and guarantor barriers that had become symbolic walls between ambition and opportunity.”
Vice President Shettima reiterated the government’s belief that “no student should be disqualified for being born on the wrong side of poverty.”
On tax reforms, Senator Shettima said the administration established a Presidential Tax and Fiscal Reform Committee, which engaged stakeholders from across the country to address grey areas in the reforms.
“When objections arose from governors and citizens alike, the President did not dismiss them. He welcomed their candour and ensured tax bills passed through public hearings. Even unpopular taxes inherited from past regimes, like the 10% single-use plastic levy and telecom tax, were suspended after critical review,” he stated.
The VP also spoke about the contentious issue of fuel subsidy removal, saying the Tinubu-led federal government acknowledged the hardship faced by ordinary Nigerians and accompanied the policy with strategic responses.
“We met with labour unions, not with threats, but with empathy. We offered palliative packages, increased wages, waived diesel taxes, and introduced alternatives like CNG buses to cushion transport costs. We were not merely reacting. We were responding.”
The Vice President said reforms in other sectors of the economy followed the same pattern of engaging with the people and making necessary adjustments to the original propositions where required.
He further noted that President Tinubu showed concern for the people every step of the way, emphasising the point that
“governance is not a theatre of perfection but a process of correction, and a government that listens is a government that learns. And a government that learns is a government that leads.”
He applauded the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation for sustaining the legacy of the late Premier of Northern Nigeria, describing it as “a torch of civic dialogue that must never be extinguished.”
Gov. Sani to North: Don’t Blame Tinubu for Two Decades of Problems
In his own submission, Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani has told northerners not to hold President Bola Ahmed Tinubu accountable for the challenges facing the region that began decades ago.
Governor Sani stated this at the two-day interactive programme of the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation held in Kaduna.
The governor explained that while the Tinubu administration bears the responsibility to find solutions to Northern Nigeria’s problems, it was unjust and politically misleading to hold the administration solely accountable for crises that predate the current president’s tenure.
He said Tinubu had doggedly kept faith with the North by addressing the region’s challenges.
“Indeed, at this point, I dare reiterate a fact that most of us here already know too well: our challenges in the North today are deeply rooted issues that began decades ago. The region has suffered from years of neglect, policy inconsistencies, and weak governance structures. Blaming His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who has barely been in office for just two years, for the problems that have been festering for over 20 years — or more — ignores the complex history and systemic failures that span multiple governments and political actors.”
He argued that Tinubu was fulfilling the expectations of Nigerians.
“Across the domains of security, education, health, infrastructure, agriculture, and inclusion, the pledges made by President Tinubu’s administration are being honoured through bold, tangible outcomes. Certainly, more work remains; distances still lie ahead. But the path is open, and the destination is in sight,” Governor Sani said.
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