Budget Office DG accuses Daily Trust of misrepresenting federal projects

By Kunle Sanni –

The Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu, has accused Daily Trust of misrepresenting federal spending under the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

Yakubu said a viral infographic published by the newspaper wrongly portrayed Lagos State as consuming the bulk of the national infrastructure budget. He stressed that Lagos is not “swallowing” federal funds, insisting that Nigeria is being “stitched together through infrastructure,” with the Northwest receiving the largest share of projects.

“The viral chart bundles together national infrastructure—federal highways, coastal transport corridors, and legacy roads—and labels them ‘Lagos-only projects.’ By that logic, the Kano–Maiduguri expressway could be called a ‘Maiduguri-only project.’ That is propaganda, not accounting,” Yakubu stated in a signed article released over the weekend.

According to him, Lagos’ exclusive projects amount to about ₦1.2 trillion, not the ₦2.7 trillion being circulated. He explained that most of the highlighted spending relates to federal highways and transport links serving the entire country.

Yakubu disclosed that the Northwest is the single largest beneficiary of Tinubu’s infrastructure approvals, with ₦5.97 trillion—or over 40 percent of all projects—directed to the region. Other allocations include ₦2.41 trillion for the South South, ₦1.13 trillion for the North Central, ₦604 billion for the South West (excluding Lagos), ₦407 billion for the South East, and ₦400 billion for the North East.

“President Tinubu has not neglected the North. He has rewarded it with concrete investments—kilometre by kilometre, megawatt by megawatt,” he said, citing the revival of the Kaduna Power Plant, completion of the Kaduna–Kano and Kano–Maiduguri expressways, the Sokoto–Illela corridor, and major upgrades to education and security infrastructure.

The Budget Office DG warned that misinformation on federal projects risks fueling regional tension. “The viral infographic pits Lagos against Kano, Southwest against Northwest, as though one region’s progress means another’s exclusion. That is not budgeting; that is blackmail,” he declared.

Yakubu urged Nigerians to judge the administration by “records, not rumors,” adding: “Every region gets its share. Lagos is Nigeria’s commercial hub, rightly upgraded. The Northwest is Nigeria’s electoral fortress, richly rewarded. President Tinubu budgets for one economy, one country, one people.”