They drew the map. They signed the contracts. They rolled out the bulldozers.
But somehow, when the Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi, unveiled Nigeria’s latest round of trillion-naira federal road infrastructure projects in May and July 2025, the South-East was… missing. Not overlooked. Not delayed. Omitted.
Let’s lay out the cold facts:
Sokoto–Badagry Superhighway:
Kebbi Section: 258 km dual, ₦1.92 trillion
Sokoto Section: 120 km dual, ₦912 billion
Oyo–Benue Border Road:
Extended to 231.64 km, ₦445.8 billion
Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway (Section 4A & 4B through Ogun & Ondo):
80.35 km dual, ₦1.65 trillion
Nasarawa: 43.6 km, ₦76 billion
Borno/Adamawa: Revised to ₦61.76 billion
Ekiti: 14.4 km, ₦9.32 billion
Yobe: ₦23.4 billion
Lagos completion funds: ₦11.42 billion
Now take a deep breath and ask yourself: What about the South-East?
Nada. Not a kilometre. Not a section. Not a kobo.
And this isn’t fiction. It’s the reality of Nigeria in 2025—where a geo-political zone that contributes to the economy, houses bustling trade cities like Aba and Nnewi, and cries out for industrial revival, is structurally sidelined.
Meanwhile…
The Enugu–Onitsha Expressway, under repair, is crawling at 50% progress.
The 9th Mile–Otukpo federal road—the only functional corridor linking the East to the North—remains a death trap.
The Eha-Amufu–Obollo–Nkalagu route, connecting key border towns and industries, is a rotting carcass of federal neglect. Governments come, cut ribbons, make promises. The road stays broken.
This is not just about roads. It’s about strategy. Infrastructure is power. Roads are influence. Access is development.
And when the roads skip your region, the economy skips your people.
🚨 So here’s the call:
To all South-East political leaders, stakeholders, traditional rulers, senators, House members, technocrats and business moguls—where is your voice?
Why is there no uproar in the chambers, no motion in the House, no united front across party lines demanding equity?
Silence is not diplomacy—it’s betrayal.
Nigeria cannot develop selectively and hope to prosper holistically. If the South-East is good enough to vote, pay taxes, and power markets, then it is good enough to receive its fair share of national infrastructure.
By Linus Anagboso.
( D-BIG PEN).
