2027: What the North needs the most, before any endorsement, By Salihu Tanko Yakasai

It’s tradition that candidates promise their electorates policies and programs during campaigns, based on their visions and plans for the future. Meanwhile, the people also identify their own needs, rooted in the gaps within their communities. This dynamic forms the foundation of the social contract between the masses and those who aspire to govern.

When I contested for the governorship position in Kano in 2023 under the platform of the PRP, I presented a manifesto that highlighted key projects and programs I believed would transform Kano. As we approach 2027, it’s essential to reflect on the promises made and the needs of the people, particularly in the North.

For us in Northern Nigeria, there are many needs that many politicians in the past have promised but either delivered halfway or failed to deliver in its entirety. Examples of such projects include the Kano to Maiduguri Highway that links the North East to North West, which was started over 25 years ago under President Obasanjo and is yet to be completed. We have the Kaduna to Sokoto Highway, there’s also the Abuja Lokoja and Benin Highway, there’s also the Kano Katsina highway started since Jonathan’s era over a decade ago. We have the Ajaokuta Steel Company that was started in 1980 by the Shagari administration, 45 years ago! The Mambila Power project has been conceived but still yet to see its actualization despite several attempts.

All these and many more critical infrastructure across the 3 geopolitical zones in the North have not been completed, and politicians use them to lure voters during campaigns, only to finish their tenure without completing them. But to me, the fundamental project that Arewa needs is electricity! Power is the driver for production and economic emancipation of any society. We cannot have progress if we don’t have electricity. Everything you can think of is tied to electricity. Be it education, food production, employment, and so on. Once a country gets power right, every other sector is impacted by that, many of which happens organically.

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The way Nigeria is designed today, all major critical power infrastructure resides in the Southern part of Nigeria. Take for example, the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) initiated during Olusegun Obasanjo’s presidency (1999–2007) involved the construction of 10 gas-fired power plants in Nigeria.

Below is a list of these power plants along with their installed capacities:

1. Olorunsogo Power Plant (Ogun State): Capacity: 750 MW
2. Omotosho Power Plant (Ondo State): Capacity: 500 MW
3. Calabar Power Plant (Cross River State): Capacity: 561 MW
4. Ihovbor Power Plant (Edo State): Capacity: 450 MW
5. Egbema Power Plant (Imo State): Capacity: 338 MW
6. Alaoji Power Plant (Abia State): Capacity: 1,074 MW
7. Sapele Power Plant (Delta State): Capacity: 450 MW
8. Gbarain Power Plant (Bayelsa State): Capacity: 225 MW
9. Omoku Power Plant (Rivers State): Capacity: 225 MW
10. Geregu Power Plant (Kogi State): Capacity: 414 MW

This gave birth to a significant disparity in power plant infrastructure between Southern and Northern states. Approximately 80% of Southern states, thats 14 out of 17 states, each have power plants with an installed capacity exceeding 100 megawatts. In stark contrast, only about 16% of Northern states, specifically 3 out of 19 states, have power plants with a capacity exceeding 100 megawatts. With the decentralization of the power sector or for any other unforseen reason, imagine if the Southern states decide to hold on to the power they generated, that will be catastrophic for Northern Nigeria.

Obasanjo didn’t stop there; he went on to execute gas pipeline projects that would link these gas power plants to the gas pipelines, ensuring consistent supply of gas which in turn led to the springing up of many industries across the Southern states, such as Ogun and so on. A state as small as Bayelsa (with a population of just 2.7 million, which is less than the Local Governments within Kano Metropolitant area), has a 225 MW Gas Power Plant, yet the Kano Zone comprising of Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa states (with a combined population of almost 40 million) gets an average of 200 megawatts from the national grid daily.

This then, brings me to the AKK project, which was awarded by the Buhari administration back in 2020 and is currently at 85% completion stage. The project aims to transport natural gas from Ajaokuta in Kogi State to Kano, passing through Abuja and Kaduna.

As significant as the AKK project is, the key component of it, is the additional gas power plants proposal that was supposed to accompany it. The Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project is expected to support three independent power plants in:

1. Abuja Power Plant: 1,350 megawatts
2. Kaduna Power Plant: 900 megawatts
3. Kano Power Plant: 1,350 megawatts

Out of these three, only the construction of the Abuja power plant has taken off, which was flagged off by President Tinubu in August 2023. The remaining two, those of Kaduna and Kano, there’s isn’t any talk of the commencement of their construction, let alone completing and putting them to use. This should be a priority for Northern leaders, in return for supporting any candidate in the 2027 presidential election.

I also want to see an extension of the AKK gas pipeline to other states in the region. The Ajaokuta section can be extended to other North Central states like Nasarawa and Niger, the Kaduna section can be extended to cover Zamfara, Sokoto, and Kebbi, while the Kano section can be extended to Katsina and Jigawa States. As for the North East, the Kolmani oil fields in Bauchi and Gombe when completed, which also has a gas component, can serve the rest of the North Eastern states.

Apart from the issue of power plants, there’s also the critical issue of transmission lines. The transmission lines in Northern Nigeria are facing significant challenges, resulting in widespread power outages. The 330kV Ugwuaji-Apir Double Circuit transmission lines 1 and 2 tripped due to a fault, causing a loss of 468 megawatts of power and affecting the North-East, North-West, and parts of North-Central. The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has restored power supply through the 132kV transmission line from New Haven to Apir, but the 330kV lines remain out of service.

The Siemens deal initiated during Late President Buhari’s government, also known as the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), aims to revamp Nigeria’s electricity transmission infrastructure with a $2.3 billion investment. This project involves upgrading 22 transmission substations and building 11 new ones, with the goal of increasing Nigeria’s power generation capacity to 25,000 megawatts. However, from my research, only 700 megawatts was added out of the proposed 25,000. There’s little to no details as to the current status of this laudable project. This should be another key demand by Northern leaders.

These and many more should be the Arewa Agenda, which all our leaders, from the Governors, to the Emirs, and religious leaders, should put pressure on the federal government to execute for the North, and ensure their successful completion and also see that they become operational within the shortest period of time. If this is not done, we will continue to retrogress backwards and keep sinking in the quicksand of poverty and insecurity, with no end in sight.

Let me end my article with a quote from a speech titled ‘Crisis of Confidence’ by the former President of America, Jimmy Carter, which he delivered on July 15, 1979. In it, he addressed America’s energy crisis, saying: “Energy will be the immediate test of our ability to unite this nation, and it can also be the standard around which we rally. On the battlefield of energy, we can win for our nation a new confidence, and we can seize control again of our common destiny.”

Salihu Tanko Yakasai
Dawisun Kanawa
August 11, 2025.