President Tinubu Has Not Neglected The North,Done Much For The Region – Rep Bichi
By Abdullahi Yusuf
The Chairman House Committee On Appropriation, Abubakar Kabir Bichi, has dismissed allegations that the Bola Tinubu administration has marginalized the North in the provision of infrastructure and other dividends of democracy.
Bichi made the remark while responding to questions from journalists on the sidelines of the meeting of Kano State stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) held at the Kano residence of the immediate past National Chairman of the party,Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
While rejecting the allegations, the lawmaker explained that President Tinubu had executed laudable projects in the northern region in such sectors as infrastructure, agriculture, education and security.
“On infrastructure under the Federal Ministry of Works, there are many critical projects the President had executed here in the North, such as the Kano-Kaduna-Abuja road, and as you can see, the project has gone far. The Kano to Kaduna part of the road has been completed, while the Abuja to Kaduna end is almost completed.
“The President had revoked the initial project contract under the ministry of works and awarded it to a new contractor who has since commenced work on the site and has done extremely well with the project.
“From what we have discussed with the Minister of works, it will be completed before the end of the first quarter of next year,” the lawmaker said.
He also cited a 200 kilometer road from Kano to Hadejia which had been completed, as well as the construction of the N250 billion Kano northern bypass.
He mentioned another project under the Ministry of of Transportation, which is the construction of a light rail in Kano metropolis.
“Currently the project is preparing to be procured any moment from now, the cost of the project is around $1 billion which is equivalent to about N1.5 trillion. This will be in Kano metropolis.
“So, with all these,it is funny for some people to say that the president is not interested in the northern part of this country, it is not true. Because I am the Chairman House Appropriation Committee and I know where we are appropriating the money and I know what he has done so far,” Bichi said.
He appealed to the public to keep sentiments aside,be objective and appreciate the good works President Bola Tinubu is doing in the northern part of the country.
On the Kano APC stakeholders meeting, Bichi, who represents Bichi Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, said Kano is an APC state as it gave President Tinubu the highest number of votes during the last general elections.
“Therefore, the party needs to strategize as elections will be coming in two years time.
“We came here to thank the president and show our support to our state leader Dr Abdullahi Ganduje who has performed extremely well when he was the National Chairman of our party,the APC.
“He has delivered very well, he has turned some PDP states to APC states, he has been able to convince some governors to join the APC. We are also telling the people of Kano state that we are supporting Dr Abdullahi Ganduje as our leader in the state,” the lawmaker added.