Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi, has strongly refuted recent claims by Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso that the North is being marginalised in terms of road infrastructure development under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Describing Kwankwaso’s remarks as “absolutely false, misleading and self-serving,” Umahi accused the former Kano governor of attempting to incite regional sentiment and distort facts for political gain.
In a detailed rebuttal issued on Friday, Umahi provided extensive data on major federal road projects currently ongoing across the six geo-political zones of the country. According to the Minister, the North is in fact receiving a slightly higher share of road development than the South under the Tinubu administration.
“Within the ongoing projects as of today, the South has 409 km by 3 lanes while the North has 756 km by 3 lanes,” Umahi stated. “In the four legacy projects alone, the North has 52%, and the South has 48% of the total ongoing road infrastructure.”
Highlighting key infrastructure projects such as the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway and the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road, Umahi maintained that Tinubu has shown clear commitment to infrastructure equity. He also emphasized that a significant number of these projects were inherited from the Buhari administration and continued under Tinubu out of a sense of national responsibility.
“The President did not abandon these projects despite pressure from other stakeholders. Instead, he has ensured their funding and execution across regions, especially in the North-West where Senator Kwankwaso comes from,” Umahi said.
He listed over a dozen major road projects ongoing in the North, including the ₦824 billion Sokoto-Zamfara-Katsina-Kaduna corridor, the ₦764 billion Abuja-Kano dual carriageway, and several tax credit-funded roads spanning Jigawa, Kano, Kebbi, and Borno states.
In contrast, he detailed similar efforts in the South, such as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, the East-West Road,
