The North-West, Lagos illusion and the misleading viral infographic, by Bayo Onanuga

The Northwest—not Lagos—is the leading beneficiary of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s budget, leading with a commitment of N5.9 trillion.

This represents 40percent of the budget.

The insightful clarification was made on Sunday by the DG Budget Office, Tanimu Yakubu.

South South followed with ₦2.41 trillion, North Central: ₦1.13 trillion, South East: ₦407 billion, North East: ₦400 billion and South West (excluding Lagos): ₦604 billion.

The viral infographic published by an Abuja-based newspaper exaggerates Lagos’ share while downplaying the North’s gains.

As the DG budget stated in the explanatory note that has gone viral, there is a reason President Tinubu favours the North West.

Without the votes of the North West in 2023, there would have been no Tinubu presidency.

“The President knows this. He has not forgotten, nor has he been ungrateful”, Yakubu wrote.

“Consider the Kaduna Power Plant (255MW). Conceived under the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, it languished in abandonment for years. Today, under President Tinubu, it is being revived and put back on track. This is not just a power project—it is a symbol of continuity, respect, and reward for the North.

“Add to that the Kaduna–Kano expressway, the Kano–Maiduguri highway, the Sokoto–Illela corridor, and massive investments in education and security infrastructure. These are not footnotes. They are the backbone of a deliberate Northwest-first investment strategy.

“This is not neglect; it is recognition. It is gratitude made concrete, kilometre by kilometre, megawatt by megawatt”

It was clear that the newspaper that peddled the false narrative of Lagos gobbling the largest money in the budget suffered from some kind of Lagos illusion.

As Yakubu clarified: The newspaper’s 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.” It is a sleight of hand that ignores the truth: these are national arteries, not local trophies.

“When disaggregated, Lagos’ actual exclusive projects—airport fencing, Carter Bridge works, localized upgrades—stand at about ₦1.2 trillion. The much-touted ₦2.7 trillion are federal highways and transport links that pass through Lagos but serve the entire federation. In short, Lagos is not swallowing the budget; Nigeria is being stitched together through infrastructure.”

–Onanuga is Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy