TINUBU has done more for Northern region than any other president - Governor Uba Sani

Wednesday, July 30, 2025 - Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State has appealed to Northern leaders not to blame President Bola Tinubu for the problems in the North.

According to him, the prob­lems in the region predate the president and lamented that the leaders haven’t taken time to consider the problems in the region and shouldn’t hold the president who has done so much for the north responsi­ble.

The governor stated this on Tuesday during Sir Ahmadu Bello Foundation: Govt-Citi­zens Engagement Session in Kaduna, and noted that it’s unjust and politically mislead­ing to hold the administration responsible for the crisis in the north.

“When a tenable adminis­tration takes the responsibili­ty to find a solution, it’s unjust and politically misleading to hold the administration solely accountable for the crisis that begets the tenure of the cur­rent president. Most of us who are the leaders in Northern Ni­geria should be open enough to take a blame, because there was silence. Nobody was speaking in the last 10 years.

“Nobody was speaking in the last 15 years. Nobody was talking in the last 20 years. And we’re sitting watching the de­plorable indices in Northern Nigeria, where the North West, the North East, and the North Central have deterio­rated completely in the last 20 years to date.

“We’re talking about out of school children, yes, 18.5 million, when you talk about the UNICEF benchmark, but more than 90% as of today, 80% was about three years ago, four years ago, but if we don’t take very serious action, we might not have a region called Northern Nigeria. So we have to be careful. And we should stop blaming President Tinubu.

“We should look at our­selves in the mirror and sit down. I’m happy what’s hap­pening today is unprecedent­ed. This is the first time in the history of Nigeria that officials from the Federal Government are sitting together in one hall to look at the problems of Northern Nigeria and address it. I think this is the beginning, and I can see hope. We need to continue with this and be fo­cused and also unwavering in doing this thing.”

Speaking about Tinbu’s contribution to the develop­ment of the region, he said, “When Tinubu’s adminis­tration introduced a compre­hensive food in north scheme, alleviating education courses and allowing children from less privileged backgrounds to pursue higher education. He’s investing in infrastructure up­grades at federal institutions and enrolling courses in vo­cational education and digital training programmes targeted at preparing youth for oppor­tunities in technology and in­novation. In basic education, we’re expanding classroom ca­pacity, recruiting and training teachers, renewing curricula, all to improve learning for un­derserved communities. We’re reimagining education, not simply as literacy, but as em­powerment.

“President Tinubu’s three million technical talent ini­tiative trains youths in digital and technical skills, while our own agricultural colleges and technical institutes connect learning with livelihoods. We’re not only preparing fu­ture employees, we’re culti­vating job creators.

“President Tinubu’s efforts in health care are equally transformative. I’m happy that the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum is here, and I can attest to the fact that we’re getting a lot of support from President Tinubu. And this support is not because we’re APC governors. The support goes across all gover­nors, irrespective of party af­filiation. I’m not sure if there’s any governor in Nigeria that can come out and say that he can go against the president, because the president is doing to us what no president in the history of Nigeria has done for sub-nationals, in terms of support.”

He added, “These improve­ments in security, education, economic inclusion, health, in­frastructure, and agriculture are not isolated interventions. They form a coherent vision of national renewal.

“At present, Tinubu cham­pions through its Renewed Hope Agenda across the North, infrastructure revital­isation is underway. In agricul­ture, the economic lifeblood of the North, we’re witnessing a quiet revolution. Farmers now benefit from solar-powered irrigation mechanised tools, fertilisers. Climate-smart pro­grammes are reshaping rural livelihoods. Agribusinesses are supplementing subsis­tence farming.

“Local markets flourish. Food systems grow more re­silient, and food sovereignty. In fact, no president has, in the history of Nigeria, supported sub-national agricultural transformation as President Tinubu is doing at the mo­ment.

“Central to his administra­tion achievement is unwaver­ing commitment to national inclusion. Northerners hold key ministerial and institu­tional leadership roles.”

Meanwhile, Arewa Con­sultative Forum (ACF) has lamented that since 1999, the budgeting system has been skewed against the Northern region.

Speaking at the event, the Board of Trustees (BoT) of ACF, Bashir Dalhatu, has urged Tinubu to do more for the region considering the fact that they gave him 64 percent votes in the last presidential election.

He said, “We used to know that before 1999, the Federal Government was very con­scious about the distribution of amenities, programmes, projects throughout the coun­try in an evenly, fairly equi­table way. But since 1999, the budgeting system has become skewed against the northern region. If our political lead­ers, especially in the National Assembly, are listening to us, we’re saying you must be more proactive so that this can be ad­dressed.

“The out-of-school children that the professor mentioned, by my own statistics there are 20 million children out of school in Nigeria and 80% of that 20 million are in northern Nigeria. If half of the 15 tril­lion is given to us in the next budget, not a single child will be out of school, including the creation of schools and teach­ers and equipment.

“The other half of the 15 trillion can produce a road network in northern Nigeria. I’ve recently had an extensive tour in northeastern Nige­ria and believe me, it has the worst roads. We’ll be asking questions about government officials who take decisions that we think are painful to us. One such issue would be if there’s a representative of the central bank, why the relocation exercise, why the voluntary retirement, why the recent employment of 16 directors and only four are from northern Nigeria.

“We’ll personally make a request to the president to consider spreading agro-allied industries in northern Nigeria so that our agricultural inputs could be properly accommo­dated.”