No zone in north marginalised by Tinubu – Gov Uba Sani
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By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
The Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani, has strongly refuted claims that President Bola Tinubu’s administration is marginalizing the North in favor of the South regarding project allocations.
Speaking after a closed-door meeting with President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, weekend, Governor Sani emphasized that the North is adequately represented within the current administration, citing several high-profile appointments.
The governor has also told leaders and stakeholders from the region to focus on human capital development, education and healthcare.
Governor Sani countered allegations—previously voiced by Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the NNPP —that more projects have been allocated to the South, saying, “We all agree that no zone in the North was marginalised on the basis of facts, data and statistics.”
“We all agree that no zone in the North was marginalised on the basis of facts, data and statistics. But of course, a lot of people speculated that northern Nigeria was marginalised.
“You cannot be talking about marginalisation when you have the Minister of Defence, both the main Minister and Minister of State, they’re all from northern Nigeria.
“The National Security Adviser is from northern Nigeria, the Chief of Defence Staff is from northern Nigeria, the Chief of Air Staff…even the Controller of Immigration, she’s from northern Nigeria. So, for me, you cannot be talking about marginalisation.”
The Governor highlighted the importance of the recent summit in Kaduna, attended by ministers, government officials and major stakeholders from the north, including members of the academia, civil society, market women, youth groups, and traditional leaders.
According to him: “It was a meeting that, for me, was very important, was critical, and of course, it was commendable, because that was the first time in the history of our country where about 80 members of the government from northern Nigeria would come together, sit down in one room, invited all the major stakeholders to come together and discuss holistically the problem of northern Nigeria.”
The governor, however, stated that the region’s real challenges are human capital development, education, and healthcare, not marginalisation.
He said: “The most important area we need to address in northern Nigeria is human capital development. Namely, there were a lot of children that are not in school.
“Today, we have a lot of problems in terms of issues of health care, child-maternal mortality rate in northern Nigeria is increasing, which is very worrisome. The issue of poverty is increasing.”
On development projects, the Governor said he briefed the President on progress in Kaduna, particularly in education, healthcare, and transportation.
He announced the commencement of a cancer centre at the 300-bed specialist hospital in Kaduna and the acceleration of the Kaduna-Abuja road project.
“We are working closely toward starting our library project in Kaduna to complement our BRT project that has started about six months ago. So we are partnering with the Federal Government our library project and I came to greet Mr. President about the progress,” he explained.
Regarding the road project, Sani added, “We have already discussed with Minister of Works (Dave Umahi), because the Federal Executive Council has also allocated some money for the project…we’re looking at finishing it even within eight months, because of the importance of the project and the importance of that road.”
Addressing security, the Governor noted the recruitment of 7,000 vigilance personnel and the need for a non-kinetic approach.
“They have really helped us in the issue of intelligence gathering and sharing… the issue of security, we cannot win it using kinetic approach.
“Mostly we need non-kinetic approach to address it, because the pull ups insecurity in the Northwest is more of an economic issue.
“So we need to be able to extend some support, social economic intervention to the people at the grassroots level, particularly in the rural areas,” he concluded.
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