* Reject FG’s attempt to remove Ohaji-Egbema from Imo State
* Cry out over deplorable roads in region
* FG counters claim, says region benefitting from Tinubu’s govt
By Charles Olewezi
For decades, the debate over the marginalisation of Nigeria’s South-East has refused to go away. Last week, it returned with force after the Federal Government commissioned a new EFCC zonal office in Awka, while gas pipelines continue to carry gas from Imo State to Kano, Lagos and Ogun.
On the streets of Onitsha, Aba and Enugu, the question is the same: Why does our gas power other regions while our factories run on diesel?
The $2.8 billion, 614km Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline, fed by the ANOH Gas Plant in Ohaji, Imo State, is now 95% completed and has reached Abuja. Through the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) hub, gas from Abia and Imo is pumped to the West and North.
But there is no high-pressure pipeline network linking Imo-Enugu-Ebonyi-Abia-Anambra to power the South-East’s industrial clusters of Aba, Onitsha and Nnewi.
Senator Victor Umeh raised it in the Senate when he said plans to extend pipelines to the South-East remain “speculative” after 60 years.
The Igbo Leaders of Thought (ILT), in a communique signed by Prof. Elo Amucheazi and Prof. Dozie Chukwuokolo after their Enugu meeting last month, said: “Right from the colonial era to post civil war period, there has been deliberate skewing of state policies to keep the Igbo perpetually marginalised. The stunted growth of seaports was intentionally engendered by federal authorities.”
The group cited Onitsha River Port, Onne, Warri and Calabar ports, arguing Lagos congestion persists because Eastern ports are deliberately stifled.
The case of bad roads in the South East has remained despite trillions of yearly road and rail budgets.
A 2026 report showed that in 2025/2026, the Federal Executive Council approved about $2.99 billion for Lagos Green Line, Kano Metro and Kaduna Light Rail. No South-East rail project featured.
The Igbo Community Association, Abuja, led by Engr. Ikenna Ellis-Ezenekwe, said:
”For decades, roads linking Abuja to the South-East have suffered neglect, becoming some of the most dilapidated in the nation. They’ve turned into havens for criminals. Continued neglect fuels youth unrest and cripples trade.”
The Benin-Agbor-Asaba corridor, Enugu-Onitsha and Enugu-Port Harcourt roads are described as death traps.
Federal Presence only seen in uniform:
The South-East South-South Governors Forum had declared: “Federal presence in the regions is very minimal and only noticeable in the presence of policemen.”
Ohanaeze Ndigbo has repeatedly lamented poor FG presence in Igboland. In a recent report, they said “the only federal presence in the zone are prisons and abandoned grain silos” and that federal roads were in deplorable state with very slow pace of work.
On the raging controversy over a draft bill for regional government/ANIM State creation. An elder statesman Chief Charles Ogbonnaya warned against ceding Ohaji/Egbema LGA (oil producing area, life wire of South East) to South-South zone, saying it amounts to declaration of war against Ndigbo.
Community groups, youth organisations and oil landlords in Ohaji/Egbema have also documented resistance, rejecting inclusion in proposed new state and describing it as political overreach. The law requires referendum of affected people. There were also protests by Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta oil communities against alleged plan to cede their oil wells to Rivers State.
Although the same Ohanaeze report noted ongoing work in some federal roads but lamented very slow pace.
Ohanaeze also urged FG to build refineries, dams, heavy industries and inland ports, and reports list abandoned Eastern industries like Nkalagu Cement (first cement plant in Nigeria, 5,000 workers), Aba Textile Mills, Nigercas, Modern Ceramics Umuahia, Glass Aba, Avutu Poultry etc, all closed with no federal industry built in SE after 1970 working today.
This sentiment explains the anger when EFCC opened its Awka zonal office recently.
The Rebuttal by FG:
The Federal Government says the narrative is false.
Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, an Igbo and former Governor of Ebonyi State said, “No other President has done what President Tinubu has done for the South-East, whether by appointment, inclusion or projects.”
He added: “In terms of infrastructure development, the South-East may not rank first, second, or third, but they will definitely not be the last.”
Also collaborating what Senator Umahi said, Senator Osita Ngwu (Enugu West) recently declared:
”To be honest, I was among those who previously felt that Enugu and the South-East had been neglected. But that is now a thing of the past. Under President Bola Tinubu’s administration, we have been carried along. We are no longer abandoned; we are fully included.”
Information Minister, Mohammed Idris in his defence of the Federal Government during a recent function in Umuahia said, “I feel that President Bola Tinubu is paying great attention to the people of the South-Eastern part of this country. We have never had it this good in terms of building of roads.”
He cited the Enugu cancer treatment centre and 1,000 primary healthcare centres.
The Presidency also reacted through the Offices of the Special Advisers on Media and Strategy, as well Communication. They listed some of the ongoing projects in the South East to include:
1. Enugu – Onitsha Expressway (107km)
Reconstruction under tax-credit scheme (MTN). 15km section already opened in April 2026 to ease traffic. Phase 1 expected 2026.
2. Second Niger Bridge Access Roads
Bridge was completed before Tinubu administration, but access roads were bad. Now under construction – Anambra section 40% complete, Asaba axis 35% complete.
3. Calabar – Ebonyi – Benue – Nasarawa – Abuja Superhighway (Trans-Sahara Superhighway)
The flagship corridor. Section 1: 123km from Ndibe Beach to Benue boundary at N454 billion with solar streetlights. Section 2: 178km from Ebonyi border through Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa to Oweto Bridge at N685 billion.
4. Ndi-Egbe Bridge & Onueke Flyover, Ebonyi State
1.3km Ndi-Egbe Bridge in Afikpo LGA linking Ebonyi and Cross River State, expected completion Dec 2026. Plus N35 billion Onueke Flyover (90m high) in Ebonyi Central to ease congestion.
5. Enugu – Port Harcourt Expressway Eke-Obinagu Flyover + New South-East Approvals:
Ongoing rehabilitation of Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway and 23-span Eke-Obinagu Flyover on Enugu-Abakaliki Road. Recently President Tinubu also approved immediate design and procurement of Oba-Nnewi-Uga-Okigwe Junction Road and Otuocha-Anam-Ibaji Road to boost South-East connectivity.
Critics argue that until gas from Ohaji powers Aba before it powers Kano, until a seaport in the East works at full capacity, and until rail connects Onitsha to Port Harcourt, the feeling of being marginalised will remain.
As one trader in Onitsha told this reporter: “If they can lay 614km gas pipeline to Kano, why can’t they lay 200km to connect all Igbo states?”
The debate is no longer whether there was neglect in the past — even government officials admit that. The debate now is whether the present is finally correcting it.