Former Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of favouring the south over the north, citing the unequal distribution of the country’s resources.
Mr Kwankwaso made the remark on Thursday at the Kano State Government public hearing on constitution review.
He accused the ruling All Progressives Congress of unfairly distributing the country’s scarce resources between the southern and northern regions.
Mr Kwankwaso said, “Let me advise the federal government on the distribution of federal resources. From the information available to us, it is like 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 mismanagement of the little that comes in.”
Mr Kwankwaso stated that road networks in the north have remained in a poor condition, while infrastructural investments have been more concentrated in the south.
“Yesterday, I was to come by air, but unfortunately, my airline decided to shift our takeoff from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. I had to come by road. Abuja to Kaduna to Kano was hell; terrible, very bad road. This is a road they started many years ago, right from the beginning of the leadership of the APC.”
“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 government is taking our resources and dumping it in one part of the country, and other parts of the country are left just like that, I don’t believe that is the right thing to do,” Mr Kwankwaso said.
He urged the federal government to convince the region of a fair approach to governance, while calling for an equitable distribution of resources for the benefit of all regions.
A northern group, Arewa Economic Forum (AEF), had also accused Mr Tinubu of nepotistic practices of appointing Yorubas, especially Lagosians, into key positions.
The group claimed that the finance and ICT sectors, which are crucial to the country’s economic development, are dominated by individuals from the South-West.
