On the road in the South-East: What a five-day tour revealed about federal projects

Being honest, I was among those who once said that the South-East was abandoned in the past. But that is no longer the case.” Those were the words of Senator Osita Ngwu, who represents Enugu West Senatorial District, as members of the Presidential Media Team and the Renewed Hope Ambassadors stood beside the ongoing Eke Obinagu Flyover in Enugu. His remark would become one of the defining moments of a five-day inspection tour through Ebonyi, Enugu and Abia States.

The exercise was organised to expose journalists to selected federal and state projects in the South-East under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration. Beyond the road inspections, bridge visits and project briefings, it also became an opportunity to hear from governors, ministers and public officials on how they perceive the relationship between the region and the Federal Government.

For decades, the South-East has featured prominently in conversations about federal presence and national inclusion. The officials who addressed the delegation repeatedly argued that the current level of infrastructure investment reflects a different approach. Whether measured in roads, housing estates or increased allocations to states, they maintained that the region is witnessing a scale of activity they believe deserves greater attention.

The tour began in Ebonyi State.

It was there that the Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi, led journalists through sections of the Calabar-Ebonyi-Benue Trans-Saharan Superhighway, stopping intermittently to explain the scope of the project and the engineering work already completed.

Stretching across Cross River, Ebonyi, Benue, Kogi and Nasarawa States, the highway is one of the Federal Government’s biggest ongoing road projects. Umahi described it as the revival of a colonial-era concept that had remained unrealised for decades.

Work was visible on different sections of the road. Contractors were laying concrete pavement while bridge construction continued at several locations despite the rainy season. The delegation inspected the concrete carriageway around Onueke, major bridge works on Section One of the highway and the 1.3-kilometre Ndi-Egbe Bridge in Afikpo Local Government Area, linking Ebonyi with Cross River State.

At every stop, Umahi returned to the same point: infrastructure, he argued, should be assessed by what is physically on the ground rather than by political rhetoric.

He also pointed to other ongoing federal projects, including the Enugu-Abakaliki Road, the Ndibe Beach Road project and the section linking the Trans-Saharan Superhighway to Port Harcourt through Abia State, as evidence that road construction is taking place simultaneously across the region.

Among the projects inspected was the Onueke Flyover, a major traffic decongestion project in Ebonyi Central Senatorial District, as well as completed link roads connecting communities within Ebonyi and neighbouring Cross River State.

Beyond the federal projects, the delegation inspected state-owned infrastructure.

Receiving the delegation in Abakaliki, Governor Francis Nwifuru spoke largely about governance within the state. He highlighted ongoing investments in rural roads, healthcare facilities, water schemes and other public infrastructure spread across the thirteen local government areas.

He also attributed the relative calm in the state to sustained collaboration between security agencies and local communities, maintaining that security remains a priority of his administration.

The conversation in Ebonyi was not limited to engineering and construction.

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, argued that one of the consequences of recent economic reforms has been the increase in allocations to states through the Federation Account. According to him, improved revenues have given many states greater fiscal capacity to embark on projects that would previously have been difficult to finance.

He cited Ebonyi as one example where higher allocations appear to have translated into investments in roads, housing and urban renewal.

From Ebonyi, the delegation travelled to Enugu.

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If the emphasis in Ebonyi was largely on highways and bridges, Enugu presented a broader mix of transport infrastructure and urban development.

The team inspected the ongoing Flyover Interchange at Abakpa Junction, the reconstruction of the Enugu-Onitsha-Port Harcourt concrete pavement road, the dualisation of the Enugu International Airport Road towards the Ebonyi boundary and the site of the Enugu Smart City project.

Governor Peter Mbah used the opportunity to explain how his administration has approached infrastructure development.

According to him, the increase in financial resources available to sub-national governments has expanded the state’s capacity to undertake large-scale capital projects.

He argued that states are now better positioned to execute development programmes because more resources are retained within the federation after the reforms introduced at the beginning of the Tinubu administration.

For Mbah, the relationship between the Federal Government and the states is not simply about direct federal projects but also about creating the fiscal space that enables states to pursue their own development priorities.

That perspective was echoed by Senator Osita Ngwu.

Standing before the Eke Obinagu Flyover, he acknowledged that he had once been among those who believed the South-East was neglected in federal infrastructure planning. Looking at the ongoing projects, however, he said his assessment had changed.

His remarks reflected one of the recurring themes throughout the tour—that officials in the region increasingly view current federal investments as more extensive than in previous years.

Unlike Ebonyi and Enugu, where road infrastructure dominated the itinerary, Abia combined federal road projects with housing, bridges and transport facilities.

The delegation inspected the Ohafia-Umuahia Federal Road, the strategic Umuahia-Uzuakoli-Akara-Ohafia Road, Omenuko Bridge and sections of both the Owerri-Abia Federal Road and the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway undergoing reconstruction.

Officials presented plans for the 1,200-unit Renewed Hope Housing Estate in Umuahia, one of the largest housing developments proposed under the Federal Government’s housing programme. Another housing project at Onuinyan Bende is expected to complement that initiative by expanding access to affordable homes while generating employment during construction.

The inspection also covered the newly commissioned Nnenna Oti Bus Terminal, designed to modernise public transportation within Umuahia and improve traffic management in the state capital.

Receiving the delegation on behalf of Governor Alex Otti, Deputy Governor Ikechukwu Emetu said Abia’s development agenda has focused on infrastructure, security, education, healthcare and creating an environment that supports investment.

He described cooperation between the state and the Federal Government as important to achieving those objectives.

The state’s Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, expressed a similar view, describing the inspection exercise as an opportunity for the public to observe ongoing projects directly rather than relying solely on official reports.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma, also spoke about collaboration between both levels of government, while Onanuga reiterated the Presidency’s position that stronger finances at the state level have expanded development opportunities across the federation.

Although the tour centred on projects, politics was never completely absent.

In Abakaliki, South-East political leaders gathered at a rally where several speakers expressed support for President Tinubu’s second-term bid in 2027. Umahi argued that ongoing federal investments and appointments involving prominent South-East figures reflected a closer relationship between the region and the current administration.

The political statements formed part of the backdrop to the inspection but did not alter its principal purpose, which was to assess projects on the ground.

After five days of travelling across three states, one impression stood out.

Across Ebonyi, Enugu and Abia, infrastructure development dominated official conversations. Roads under construction, bridges taking shape, housing estates being planned and urban renewal projects in progress provided the setting within which political leaders advanced their arguments about federal engagement with the region.

The projects themselves are at different stages of execution. Some are completed, many are ongoing and others are only beginning. Their eventual impact will become clearer as they are delivered and put to use.

For now, they have become an important part of the conversation about development in the South-East, providing fresh material for a debate that, for many years, was driven more by perceptions than by organised inspections of projects on the ground.