By Egena Sunday Ode
Last week’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting yielded another significant win for the North. Of the three rail projects awarded, two went to the North-West geopolitical zone, specifically Kaduna and Kano.
The rail projects aimed at boosting infrastructure, productivity, and economic growth across key urban centers, including Lagos, are estimated to cost a whopping $2.99 billion and will be funded by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) on behalf of the Federal Government.
The projects are the Lagos Green Line rail, the Kano State Metro City rail project, and the Kaduna State light rail system.
This message was not lost on some political players in the North. Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, was quick to spot this out last week Thursday, pointing to President Bola Tinubu’s good gesture and kind disposition towards the Northern Region. When he took the stage to address the Presidential Media Team and journalists on a tour of the Federal and State Government projects in the Northwest geopolitical zone at a dinner, he asserted pointedly that no past Nigerian leader had given so much attention to the region in terms of infrastructure development as Tinubu is doing.
His words: President Tinubu has done so much for the North, and I can boldly say that his administration has delivered more for Northern Nigeria than any previous government. The evidence is visible enough for everyone to see. One of them is the recent approval of major rail and road projects worth billions of Naira in Kaduna State. The projects are expected to boost infrastructure and drive economic growth in the region upon completion.
“The increase in financial allocations to sub-national governments has enabled states to extend development to the grassroots and communities. Improved collaboration between the federal and state governments has enhanced governance and service delivery and contributes to public support for the President.
“Also today (last Thursday), another project was approved for Kano state, almost 1 trillion naira. That is the story people are talking about. So for me, no President has supported the North more than President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. No one would ever have done what he has done in less than three years now. And that is the reason why I cannot see any zone, not even the southwest, coming out to vote for him as much as the North.
“There is no opposition in Kaduna against President Tinubu in 2027. We make no apologies for that; given his support to the state and its people, I can boldly say that victory is assured because Kaduna is an APC state.”
Uba Sani’s verdict, therefore, was: for his landmark achievements in Kaduna, Tinubu will be rewarded with nothing less than 70 percent of votes to be cast in the 2027 presidential election in the state.
President Tinubu is expected to emerge as the consensus candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the fast approaching 2027 general elections.
The Presidential Media Team led by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, accompanied by the Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Sunday Dare, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Special Duties and Director, Renewed Hope Ambassadors, Tunde Rahaman among others and the journalists commenced the projects inspection from the Abuja axis of the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Expressway beginning from Zuba, in the Federal Captial Territory.
Section one of the project covering 118kms is already completed and waiting for commissioning probably as part of activities to mark the third anniversary of the Tinubu Presidency.
The contractors handling the project who spoke to journalists in Tungamaje where the project began on Thursday morning, said the section is100 percent completed as of last Thursday when the inspection started.
This section is a reinforced concrete pavement which experts say will last for up to 100 years. The section is also complete with full solar lighting. The road is being rebuilt with 200mm thick reinforced concrete, as a superior alternative to the traditional asphalt, designed for durability and improved safety significantly to address previous high-traffic, dangerous areas and handle high traffic volumes.
The construction of this section is part of a larger plan to fix the entire 375.9 km road that links Abuja to Kano with the new technology in road construction which emphasis durability. So far, 21 kilometres (inbound) of the 72-kilometre Section II that links Jere to Kaduna has been completed. Also, the 490kmx2 Zaria-Funta-Gusau-Sokoto dual carriage way has recorded 21km completion on both sides.
Besides the expressways, the Federal Government has also made some significant interventions in the some road projects connecting different parts of Kaduna State. The 23 km Western Bypass also known as Nnamdi Azikiwe Way linking the Abuja Expressway and the Command Junction to Mando connecting the Kaduna- Zaria – Kano Expressway and the Eastern Bypass from Kakau in Chikun LGA to Zaria-Kano Expressway have seen President Tinubu’s intervention brought them to life. These roads currently been constructed and nearing completion were said to be abandoned for over two decades until Tinubu’s administration came to their rescue. The 23km Western Bypass which was awarded initially under the Tax Credit Scheme is now being constructed with the new road technology, while the Eastern Bypass is almost completed with only two bridges to go as revealed by the Commissioner of Information, Dr Ahmed Maiyaki. These interventions speak to massive infrastructure in roads that many Nigerians even in the North may not be fully aware of.
The momentum of the North having a high network of railway coverage due to its dominance in agricultural practice is still being sustained by the Tinubu administration if the ongoing efforts of the government is to be objectively considered.
A visit to Mando along the Kaduna-Birnin Gwari Expressway last Friday by the projects tour team of journalists revealed a conspicuously massive railway bridge which is the starting point of the Kaduna-Kano rail mordernisation project. According to the Desk Officer of the Federal Miniatry of Transportation in charge of Kaduna and Kano rail projects, Engineer Abdullahi Adamu Yakubu, the 203km standard gauge- 1435mm project has already attained 66 percent completion.
Also unknown to many Nigerians, the Kano-Jigawa-Katsina-Maradi railway project is receiving serious funding attention from the Tinubu administration. The 400km railway peoject consists of two lines-the main line and the branch line connecting Jigawa and has reached 63 percent completion. Journalists on inspection visit to the project site at Dundubus in Jigawa last Saturday witnessed, first hand, intensive work ongoing on the branch line to Dutse, Jigawa State.
The site Engineer, Ali Bukar, who addressed the visiting journalists at the project site gave December 2027 as date for the delivery of the job, adding that work is ongoing intensively at the entire nine sections of the project, except the Jibia section where diplomatic issues have made them to slow down recently.
Speaking on the succeasful completion of the Kano-Kaduna Expressway when the tour team arrived the Kano end of the road, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement (North Wes), Abdullahi Tanko Yakassai, said the people of Kano would remain ever grateful to President Tinubu for not ignoring the infrastructure needs of the people in the region which accounted for about one third of the country’s population.
In the three states visited last week by the media projects tour team, the sub nationals also seemed to have shown justification for their increased revenue allocations.
Kaduna, for instance, is celebrating the 35km Gadan Gayan–Gwaraji–Kujama Road commissioned in February 2026 by PresidentTinubu. This 35-kilometer asphalt road is famously recognized as one of the longest built in the state in the last two decades. It connects over 76 farming communities across three LGAs: Igabi, Kajuru, and Chikun.
Kano has built two brand new massive flyovers at very critical locations to decongest traffic in the state capital, while Jigawa parades an unprecedented assemblage of agricultural implements ready for commissioning any time soon, among several other landmarks.
