The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has observed with dismay what it called the lopsidedness in allocation of funds for road projects to the disadvantage of the north, especially the North-east.
In a statement by its spokesperson, Prof Abubakar Jika Jiddere, on Wednesday in Abuja, NEF said, “This amounts to the systematic exclusion of northern Nigeria in the allocation of federal infrastructure funding, particularly in road and railway development.”
It said the recent pattern of capital investment reveals a troubling regional imbalance that heavily favors southern Nigeria, while ignoring the urgent infrastructure needs of the north, especially the North-east which remains the most fragile and underserved part of the country.
“While the government points to projects such as the Abuja–Kano Expressway (₦252 billion) and the Wusasa–Jos Road (₦18 billion) in the North Central and North-west as evidence of inclusion, these are insufficient and largely token when compared to the massive allocations directed to southern states,” it said.
It said, the following are just a few examples of the regional disparity in current federal infrastructure allocations: Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway – ₦1.344 trillion; Delta State section of Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway – ₦470.9 billion; Second Niger Bridge (completion) – ₦148 billion; Lagos–Ibadan Expressway (Phase 2) – ₦195 billion;
Lokoja–Benin Road – ₦305 billion; Third Mainland Bridge (Lagos – structural evaluation) – ₦3.571 billion and others.
NEF noted that, “This shows how the north’s geography is exploited to facilitate southern trade and transport, with no corresponding developmental investments in the northern region itself.
“Meanwhile, the North-east, devastated by terrorism and chronic underdevelopment, is entirely excluded from these high-value federal road projects.”
Some of the critically deteriorated highways that demand immediate attention it noted include Jalingo–Numan–Yola–Bama, Bauchi–Gombe Road; Gombe–Maiduguri through Biu, Gombi, Mubi, Madagali and Gwoza Damaturu–Gashua–Gaidam–Damasak–Gubio.
Others are Birnin Gwari–Ilorin, Minna–Bida, Kaduna–Jos via Saminaka, and Kaduna–Minna via Sarkin Pawa, just as it also wants a balance in rails development across the country.