By Bamidele Atoyebi

Much of the public conversation around President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has focused on the reforms and projects with immediate national visibility. From the student loan scheme under NELFUND to the renewed emphasis on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), from tax reforms to large-scale coastal highways, the narrative has largely revolved around policies perceived to favour the South or to deliver broad, abstract gains.

What has received far less attention is how the North stands to be one of the most significant long-term beneficiaries of this presidency.

This oversight is striking, particularly when one considers the scale and strategic importance of infrastructure projects currently being advanced in Northern Nigeria.

Chief among them is the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline Project, alongside the Kolmani Integrated Development Project and the floating LNG initiative linked to Kogi State.

These are not symbolic gestures or short-term political concessions; they are foundational investments capable of reshaping and maximally transforming the economic trajectory of the region.

The AKK Gas Pipeline, conceived during the previous administration and driven at the technical level by the former NNPC leadership under Engineer Yusuf Usman, could easily have become another casualty of political transition.

In Nigeria, incoming governments have often abandoned or slowed projects simply because they were not the original architects. President Tinubu chose a different path. Rather than allowing partisan considerations to override national interest and development, his administration continued to fund, prioritise and advance the pipeline, pushing it steadily towards completion.

That decision alone speaks volumes. It reflects a leadership style that places continuity and impact above personal credit. The AKK project is now at an advanced stage, and upon commissioning, is expected to unlock substantial economic value across multiple northern states.

For a region frequently characterised by limited industrial activity and high unemployment, particularly among unskilled and semi-skilled labour, the implications are profound.

The pipeline is designed to do far more than transport gas. It is intended to anchor gas-based industrialisation across the North, supporting industries such as fertiliser production, petrochemicals, power generation and manufacturing.

By improving access to reliable energy, it lowers entry barriers for small and medium-sized enterprises, stimulates local value chains and creates employment at multiple levels.

Importantly, it also expands access to cleaner fuels such as compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), with direct benefits for household energy costs, environmental outcomes and public health.

Contrary to the assumption held by some that the North would be politically or economically sidelined because the President does not hail from the region, the evidence increasingly points in the opposite direction and strongly puts a lie to the unfortunate narrative.

In fact, the AKK Gas Pipeline represents a type of infrastructural intervention not currently replicated at the same scale in other parts of the country. Its location in the North underscores a development philosophy that is guided by strategic need rather than regional sentiment and placement.

This same approach is evident in the administration’s broader reform agenda. President Tinubu’s decision to remove fuel subsidies widely acknowledged as politically risky, freed up fiscal space that had long been drained by an inefficient and inequitable system.

That choice, combined with efforts to rationalise the foreign exchange framework, reform revenue collection, and modernise the tax structure, reflects a willingness to confront structural weaknesses that previous administrations deferred.

These reforms are not painless, nor are their benefits immediate. However, they are essential for creating a sustainable economic base capable of supporting large-scale infrastructure and productive investment. That's the philosophy of a long distance runner, never to base decisions on immediate or short term benefits but have an eye on the future.

Tinubu appears to understand a fundamental truth of development which is that no country can grow beyond the strength of its infrastructure, and no government can sustainably spend without first securing diversified and reliable sources of income.

Northern Nigeria, often discussed in terms of social challenges, insecurity and underdevelopment, is now positioned to gain from this infrastructural reorientation. Projects such as AKK and Kolmani are not welfare schemes; they are productivity-enhancing investments that integrate the region more deeply into the national economy and imbue them with sustainable and resilient gains. Had these initiatives been ignored or starved of funding, the opportunity cost would have been enormous.

In sustaining and advancing projects he did not initiate, President Tinubu has demonstrated a political maturity that had been lacking but which Nigeria has been in dire need of. His tenure is predicated on a belief that development is cumulative, not competitive, and that true national progress requires building upon existing foundations rather than constantly starting afresh.

If these projects are successfully delivered and complemented by consistent policy execution, the North may well emerge as one of the unexpected success stories of Tinubu’s presidency. Not through rhetoric, but through infrastructure that works, industries that grow, and opportunities that endure.

Bamidele Atoyebi is the Convenor of BAT Ideological Group, National Coordinator of Accountability and Policy monitoring and a publisher at Unfiltered and Mining Reporting.