Northern groups split over Tinubu claim that the North benefits most from reforms
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), the Middle Belt Forum (MBF) and Northern Christians disagreed on Tuesday over President Bola Tinubu’s claim that Northern Nigeria remains the biggest beneficiary of his economic reforms.
The ACF and MBF called the claim surreal and cynical, arguing that the North has become Nigeria’s poverty capital. Northern Christian voices took the opposite view, saying Tinubu is doing better than the late Muhammadu Buhari did and that the region is benefiting. Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have restated that removing the fuel subsidy was difficult but necessary and that the North stands to gain most as trade corridors open toward Niger, Chad and other neighbours.
Representing the president at an APC Professionals Forum roundtable, National Chairman Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda cited figures the administration links to the reforms: external reserves of about $52.7 billion by August 2026, non-oil revenue rising from ₦13.63 trillion in 2023 to ₦16.4 trillion in the first two quarters of 2026, a stronger merchandise trade surplus, real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 4.43 per cent in the second quarter of 2026 and inflation near 15.4 per cent.
He pointed to planned ports, highways, the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano gas pipeline, the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) and credit schemes as the path from macroeconomic numbers to household gains.
ACF spokesman Prof. Tukur Muhammad Baba said the claim was hard to reconcile with insecurity, weakened agriculture, poor roads, out-of-school children and rising poverty, and suggested the president may have been given a picture that hides the truth. MBF president Dr Bitrus Pogu called the assertion funny, arguing that subsidy removal and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) affect the whole country, not one region.
Rev. John Hayab of the Northern Christian Association said major northern roads, federal institutions in Southern Kaduna and northern representation in the cabinet were real and should be acknowledged even while insecurity and hunger persist.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) separately said restoring fuel subsidy is not negotiable and could even be a basis for cooperation with other opposition figures who share that view. The split in the North is therefore not only about roads and reserves.
It is about whether national statistics and named projects are allowed to stand as proof of regional benefit when daily insecurity and food costs remain the lived experience for many.
