A former executive secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Prof Usman Yusuf, has accused former President Muhammadu Buhari of neglecting his home state, Katsina, throughout his eight-year tenure.
Yusuf made the claim when he was featured as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Sunday.
Although Buhari’s administration has been largely credited with executing projects such as the Second Niger Bridge and the construction of the Kano – Maradi rail line connecting the neighbouring Niger Republic, the activist insisted that Katsina just like the entire North West did not witness any meaningful development under his leadership.
He said, “In every region, we have issues. What is the North East Development Commission doing? The North during President Buhari’s government has a good representation. The chief of staff was the one who pushed for the creation of the NEDC. Now, there is a Vice President,
National Security Adviser and others from the north. What are they doing to address this issue?
“But we complain in the North West that we had a president that we never got anything from. Go to Katsina today where I come from, there is nothing to show we had a president for eight years. In the North West, let him tell us what he has done.
“He couldn’t even complete the Abuja-Kano highway for eight years. How much neglectful can that be?”
Yusuf also knocked the Northern governors, saying they are part of the problems plaguing the region.
“What are the governors also doing? There are several issues to deal with from education to health and others. The other I saw them going to Bauchi to inaugurate the Government House as if that is a priority (sic).
“Governors are awash with money and their priority is messed up. The reality is in the North with ravaging insecurity,” he stated.
The former NHIS boss was one of those who negotiated the release of the remaining 23 abductees of the ill-fated Abuja-Kaduna train passengers on October 5, 2022.
He was then a secretary to the Chief of Defence Staff Action Committee.
His reign as the executive secretary of the NHIS ended when Buhari sacked him in 2019, seven months after he was recommended for dismissal.
Yusuf’s last political appointment was in 2023 when he was engaged by the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, as special adviser on community engagement to his presidential campaigns
His remarks are just academic. I think it was in Katsina State. Daura that Chibuike Amaechi built Transport University. Katsina had witnessed several development strides since 1991 I left the State. Katsina people are go getters. In one way or the the other they have been getting their lot from the federal government must not be only from Mohammed Buhari government alone.