Former Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, has called on President Bola Tinubu to make the North-East a priority in the forthcoming 2025 supplementary budget and the 2026 budget proposal, warning that the region risks being left behind without urgent intervention.
In a statement released to journalists in Abuja on Friday, the senator representing Borno South said the North-East had endured over 15 years of infrastructural neglect due to insurgency and now required targeted investment to recover.
“Fifteen years down the line, there hasn’t been any meaningful infrastructural development in the North-East as it has been ravaged by insurgents.
In view of this, I suggest that the present administration should give priority to the region and make provision for its urgent infrastructural needs in the 2025 Supplementary Budget.
Now that insurgents have receded as a result of efforts by our military, who have regained lost ground, contractors can now move to sites,” Ndume said.
Ndume’s call followed Wednesday’s visit by the six North-East governors to President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Led by Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum, the governors submitted a long list of abandoned federal road projects, lamenting decades of neglect.
Among the projects highlighted were:
- Kano-Maiduguri Road
- Port Harcourt-Jos-Bauchi-Maiduguri Railway line
- Bama-Mubi-Yola Road
- Wukari-Jalingo-Yola Road
- Bauchi-Gombe-Biu-Damaturu Road
- Maiduguri-Monguno-Baga Road
- Damaturu-Geidam Road
- Bauchi-Ningi-Nasaru-Babaldo Road
- Gombe-Potiskum Road
- Damaturu-Biu Road
- Ibi-Shamdam Road
- Maiduguri-Ngala-Bama-Banki corridor
Ndume commended the governors’ bold stance but lamented the “near-collapse” of infrastructure across the six states, blaming years of insurgency and insecurity.
He stressed that the zone, being the epicentre of Boko Haram’s violence for over a decade, deserved special attention from the Federal Government to rebuild and stimulate development.
The senator further urged the governors to sustain pressure on Abuja while also designing people-focused policies to improve living standards in the region.
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