President Bola Tinubu’s much-touted “Infrastructure Equity for Every Region” report is already facing scrutiny after a SaharaReporters review revealed major inconsistencies in how projects were allocated across regions.
The progress report, released on Monday, claimed that 12 key projects were being executed in the North-West. But a closer look shows that some of the listed projects don’t even belong to the region. For example, the 110km Damaturu–Maiduguri road was included as a North-West project, even though Damaturu (Yobe) and Maiduguri (Borno) are clearly in the North-East. Similarly, the Bama and Dikwa roads, both in Borno State, were also padded into the North-West list.
The discrepancies didn’t end there. The Lokoja–Okene road in Kogi State, which falls under the North-Central region, was wrongly credited to the North-West. Same with the Benue–9th Mile road, which should have been counted under North-Central. Even more troubling, some of these projects appeared twice — once under their rightful regions and again under the North-West — creating double entries that inflate the government’s figures.
These revelations come against the backdrop of growing concerns that Tinubu’s government has been skewing development and appointments. In April, the presidency insisted that Tinubu was committed to “merit, integrity, geographical spread, and capacity.” Yet, Senator Ali Ndume from Borno South accused the government of bias, warning that constitutional principles of federal character were being breached.
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) also raised similar alarms in July, arguing that despite the North delivering over 64% of Tinubu’s 2023 election votes, the region has been sidelined in both budget allocations and major projects. Alhaji Bashir M. Dalhatu, Wazirin Dutse and ACF Chairman, bluntly said the North had been “largely excluded” from key governance processes.
SaharaReporters had earlier highlighted that Tinubu’s so-called equitable infrastructure push left the South-East and North-East as the least beneficiaries. Now, with evidence of padded figures and misclassification of projects, critics are questioning whether the “Renewed Hope Agenda” is living up to its promise — or just another political slogan.
