If Nigeria’s roads tell the truth, why do some regions move while others wait? Why does concrete harden faster in Lagos than in Kaduna, Ilorin, or Kano? Why do approvals come quickly for the South, while the North receives announcements, excuses, and silence? And why do those sworn to represent Northern interests keep standing on a president’s mandate while abandoning the people’s mandate?
Nigeria is not short of promises. It is short of equity. Under President , federal infrastructure delivery—especially roads—has taken on a geography that Nigerians can see with their eyes and measure with dates, figures, and bulldozers. The pattern is no longer anecdotal. It is structural. It is repeatable. And it points unmistakably to a system that accelerates the South—particularly Lagos and the South-West—while the North is asked to wait, endure, and accept excuses.
This is not an emotional claim. It is a factual one.
A Country Split by Asphalt
Across the South-West, heavy equipment moves with urgency. Financing closes. Contractors mobilise. Variations are approved. When costs rise, top-ups follow. When designs change, paperwork clears. When deadlines slip, money still flows.
Across much of the North, a different reality persists: approvals without acceleration, budgets without certainty, and construction that starts, stops, and restarts—if it restarts at all.
The federal government insists that “projects are ongoing everywhere.” That statement is technically convenient and substantively misleading. Ongoing does not mean equally funded. Approved does not mean released. And announced does not mean built.
Promise Versus Practice
The Tinubu administration inherited and embraced the Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme, a programme sold to Nigerians as a national equaliser—private capital filling public gaps, accelerating delivery across regions. Under this scheme, NNPC Limited committed between ₦621.2 billion and ₦822.3 billion, plus $577.6 million, to federal roads before later exiting the programme. That exit left a publicly acknowledged funding hole running into trillions of naira for projects already awarded.
What matters is who paid the price when that scheme collapsed.
Southern mega-projects adapted. Northern roads stalled.
Northern Roads: Big Figures, Slow Reality
Ilorin–Jebba–Mokwa–Bokani Road (North-Central)
This road is not obscure. It is a strategic corridor linking Kwara and Niger States, serving agriculture, trade, and interstate movement. The publicly cited contract figures for sections of this project sit at approximately ₦80.34 billion. It was listed among priority federal roads and included within national infrastructure frameworks.
Yet progress has been episodic. Reports of partial releases—figures like ₦17 billion cited at various points—never translated into continuous construction. Contractors demobilised. Work slowed. Deadlines passed. The road became a symbol of what the North has been offered repeatedly: partial funding and full frustration.
Abuja–Kaduna–Kano Dual Carriageway (AKK)
Few roads are as politically sensitive or economically vital as the Abuja–Kaduna–Kano corridor. In January 2025, the Bureau of Public Procurement approved ₦252.89 billion for a rescoped section of the project. Other public statements and press reports have referenced consolidated needs running far higher as the government sought to “complete” the road.
But here is the crucial distinction: approval is not cashflow. There is no publicly published, cumulative ledger of funds released to date. Instead, Nigerians are told work is “ongoing” while motorists navigate unfinished stretches and contractors complain—off record—of irregular releases.
The result? Delays explained away as inevitabilities rather than consequences of policy choices.
Southern Contrast: Speed, Scale, and Certainty
Now compare that experience with the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway, the flagship of Tinubu’s infrastructure ambition.
This project did not rely on hope or episodic releases. It secured project-level financing.
- On 9 July 2025, a $747 million syndicated loan closed for Phase 1, Section 1.
- On 19 December 2025, an additional $1.126 billion financing closed for Phase 1, Section 2.
These are not press statements. These are closed financings. Money that contractors can draw down. Cashflow that sustains momentum. Certainty that keeps machines on site.
This is the difference between building as a policy and building as a promise.
When the NNPC Exit Happened, Who Was Rescued?
When NNPC exited the Tax Credit Scheme after committing ₦822.3 billion and $577.6 million, the federal government acknowledged it needed over ₦3 trillion more to complete awarded roads.
What happened next tells the story of bias more clearly than any speech.
Southern projects—especially those tied to ports, trade corridors, and Lagos—found alternative financing models. Syndicated loans. Structured EPC arrangements. Fast-tracked approvals.
Northern roads did not.
They were left suspended between budget cycles, vulnerable to inflation, FX shocks, and bureaucratic inertia.
This is not accidental. It is a choice.
Contractor Capacity Is Not the Problem
Government defenders often shift blame to contractors. This argument collapses under scrutiny.
The same firms operate nationwide:
- Julius Berger builds in the South and the North.
- CGC, RCC, Hitech, and others have executed projects across regions.
Their performance diverges not by latitude, but by funding certainty. Where money flows predictably, performance follows. Where releases are delayed or partial, even the best contractors slow down.
Geography does not determine competence. Policy does.
The Insecurity Excuse—and Why It Is a Confession of Failure
Perhaps the most repeated justification for Northern delays is insecurity.
This argument is as convenient as it is damning.
Security is not an external shock. It is the first responsibility of government. When a government cites insecurity to explain stalled infrastructure, it is admitting one of two failures—both fatal:
- Failure of capacity: The government cannot secure its own territory.
- Failure of will: The government can, but chooses not to prioritise it.
There is no third option.
Using insecurity as an excuse does not absolve the state; it indicts it. And it collapses further when we observe that projects in the South receive extraordinary protection, rapid approvals, and financial guarantees—even in areas with environmental and social risks.
If insecurity truly halted governance, Nigeria would be ungovernable. Yet oil flows. Ports function. Airports operate. Roads are built—just not in the North at the same pace.
Where Are the Northern Governors and Lawmakers?
This question can no longer be postponed.
Where are the Northern governors during budget negotiations? Where are the Northern senators when release schedules stall? Where are the Northern members of the House of Representatives when regional disparities become policy outcomes?
Too many have chosen silence. Worse, too many have chosen political alignment over regional advocacy.
They stand on the president’s mandate while neglecting the people’s mandate.
Representation is not applause. It is pressure. And pressure is precisely what has been missing.
A region cannot outsource its voice and then lament marginalisation.
Bias Without a Memo
There is no circular titled “Marginalise the North.” None is needed.
Bias operates through:
- Who gets financing certainty
- Who gets rapid approvals
- Who gets rescue when schemes collapse
- Who gets excuses instead of solutions
Impact matters more than intent. Outcomes matter more than speeches.
The Cost to the North
The consequences are already visible:
- Higher transport costs that inflate food prices nationwide
- Broken supply chains from farm belts to urban markets
- Security deterioration, as bad roads slow response and isolate communities
- Deepening alienation, as citizens feel like second-class stakeholders
Roads are not just infrastructure. They are citizenship made visible.
The Question Nigeria Avoids—but the North Must Ask
There is a rumour Nigerians whisper but avoid publicly: that Nigeria’s political future may one day involve deeper regional autonomy or even separation.
If that ever happens—by design or drift—the North must confront a brutal question:
Does Northern Nigeria today possess the road, rail, and logistics infrastructure to function as a viable state?
The honest answer is uncomfortable.
Decades of underinvestment, compounded by recent disparities, have left the North structurally exposed. Intra-regional connectivity is weak. Access to ports depends on corridors controlled elsewhere. Logistics costs are higher. Time is lost on every journey.
Infrastructure neglect is not just a development issue. It is a strategic vulnerability.
Anticipating the Government’s Defence
The federal government will say:
- “Projects are ongoing.”
- “Funding is constrained.”
- “Security challenges delayed work.”
These explanations fail on contact with evidence.
Constraints are national. Their effects are regional. That difference is policy.
Silence Is Also a Choice
History will not only judge who governed Nigeria. It will judge who stayed silent while it was unevenly built.
The Tinubu federal government cannot continue to pave prosperity in one direction and expect national cohesion in return. And Northern leaders cannot continue to trade representation for proximity to power and still claim to speak for their people.
Equity delayed is equity denied.
Nigeria does not need more announcements. It needs balanced action. Transparent release schedules. Region-by-region disclosures. And leaders—especially from the North—willing to choose their people over political comfort.
Because a federation that builds unequally will eventually be judged unequally.
Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via [email protected]