The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has accused the federal government of excluding northern Nigeria, particularly the north-east, from recent infrastructure projects.
Abubakar Jika Jiddere, NEF spokesperson, said in a statement that the imbalance in the disbursement of funds for key road and rail projects threatens national unity.
He said the federal government has prioritised projects in the south while allocating “tokenistic” funds to the north.
Jiddere cited the ₦1.344 trillion Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway and the ₦470.9 billion allocation for the Delta section as examples of massive investments in the south.
In contrast, he said the north was given ₦252 billion for the Abuja–Kano expressway and ₦18 billion for the Wusasa–Jos road.
He said: “The disparity is not just glaring, it is dangerous. Why has the Nigerian Railway Corporation allowed the northern rail network to collapse while prioritising projects in the south?”
NEF said the north-east was completely excluded from current federal road projects despite facing insecurity and economic hardship.
It listed the Jalingo–Numan–Yola–Bama highway and Bauchi–Gombe road as critical routes that have been neglected.
The forum lamented the collapse of the Port Harcourt–Maiduguri Eastern rail line, which it said once played a vital role in linking the region to the rest of the country.
It called for the immediate inclusion of the north-east in federal infrastructure planning.
NEF also urged northern lawmakers, governors and federal appointees to reject any future budget that does not equitably distribute infrastructure.
The forum asked the federal ministry of works and the Nigerian Railway Corporation to publicly address the disparities and provide a clear roadmap for rehabilitating roads and railways in the north.