Former Kano State gubernatorial candidate and political commentator, Salihu Tanko Yakasai, also known as Dawisu, has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of concentrating federal projects in Lagos State at the expense of other parts of the country.
In a post on his verified Facebook page, confirmed by Kano Times, Dawisu questioned what he described as an overwhelming allocation of major national infrastructure projects to Lagos.
Dawisu, a former media aide to ex-Governor Abdullahi Ganduje and a member of the APC Gandujiyya camp, called for a more balanced distribution of federal resources.
“I’ve noticed my friends and others from Lagos justifying the N712 billion rehabilitation of the Lagos International Airport, citing its profitability and status as the busiest airport in the country. I agree on the importance of Lagos International Airport. However, my question is: how many projects has President Tinubu awarded or approved for Lagos since becoming president?” he wrote.
He cited several Lagos-based projects under Tinubu’s administration: the N15 trillion Lagos-Calabar Highway, the $651 million 7th Axial Road, and a proposed $2 billion loan for the Lagos Light Rail. He added that projects like the University of Lagos power project and the Renewed Hope City further increased the amount invested in Lagos.
“Considering these projects, along with others like the University of Lagos power project and Renewed Hope City, etc., it’s clear that trillions have been invested in Lagos. This raises an alarm about the distribution of resources across states,” Dawisu said.
He compared this with Kano, which he claimed had only the Renewed Hope City project to show, with “little to no other tangible projects on the ground, only audio approvals.”
“If these vast funds were invested in other states too, leveraging their comparative advantages, of course, they would become economically viable as well,” he added.
Dawisu acknowledged that it is common for a president’s home state to receive attention, but warned against neglecting national equity.
“Once elected, a president should prioritize the needs of all Nigerians, not just one state or tribe,” he said.
He ended the post by questioning the president’s national outlook: “I understand Emi Lokan, but sometimes I wonder if Tinubu is the President of Nigeria or that of Lagos. Even his geopolitical zone, the South West, is being marginalized in favor of Lagos… It’s safe to say that Emi Lokan is more like Lagos Lokan.”
Dawisu also criticized those defending the pattern of projects. “Any objective Lagosian with a conscience will know that this favoritism is ridiculous at a level we’ve never seen in the country’s history. But if agenda must agend, then by all means, continue to defend it, while we continue to speak out so that the records will be there for posterity’s sake.”
His remarks come weeks after the 2023 presidential candidate of the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP), Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, also accused the president of concentrating the country’s resources on developing the southern part of the country.
Kwankwaso made the remarks during a constitution review engagement organized by the Kano State Government.
“Let me advise the Federal Government on the distribution of federal resources,” the former Kano governor said on Thursday at the Kano State Stakeholders’ Dialogue on the 2025 Constitutional Amendment.
“From the information available to us, it seems most of the national budget is now tilting in one direction in this country.
“Let me advise those who are struggling by all means to take everything to remember that some of the issues that we have in this part of the country today have to do with the lack of enough resources and the mismanagement of the little that comes in.
“That is why we have insecurity, we have poverty and so on. It is happening here mainly, but like a desert, it will eventually spread everywhere,” Kwankwaso said.
He added that most roads in the northern region remain in deplorable condition, while the APC government continues to allocate large budgetary provisions for infrastructural development in the southern region.
“I was to come by air, but unfortunately, my airline decided to shift our takeoff from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. I had to come by road. From Abuja to Kaduna to Kano was a hellish journey. Terrible. Very bad road. This is a road that was started many years ago, right from the beginning of the APC leadership.
“Now, we are told that there is a road from the South to the East. We support infrastructure anywhere in this country… and any other thing that is good for the masses. But a situation where the government is taking our resources and dumping them in one part of the country while other parts are left just like that — I don’t believe that is the right thing for the government to do,” Kwankwaso said at the event.
