‘No Need for Biafra Again’ — Umahi Says South-East Now Fully Integrated Under Tinubu

• Minister of Works, David Umahi, says renewed federal investments and political inclusion under President Bola Tinubu have removed the basis for renewed Biafra agitation in the South-East.

The Minister of Works, Engineer David Umahi, has dismissed renewed calls for the creation of a separate Biafran state, declaring that such agitation is no longer justified due to what he described as the full reintegration of the South-East into Nigeria’s national development agenda under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Umahi made the remarks while inspecting ongoing federal infrastructure projects across the South-East, where he said long-standing complaints of marginalisation had eased following massive federal investments in roads and critical infrastructure.

“There will be no need for Biafra again,” the minister said. “In the past administration, our people felt very much marginalised and that was the reason some people were agitating for Biafra. But I can say today that we are well integrated into the mainstream of the nation, Nigeria.”

He expressed appreciation to President Tinubu, describing the South-East as “comfortable” and “very happy” with the current administration.

“We are comfortable with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. We are very happy with the integration,” Umahi added.

The former Ebonyi State governor listed several ongoing and completed federal projects in the region, noting that many had remained abandoned for more than a decade before the Tinubu administration intervened.

“For more than 15 years, it has been one government that will come and just do something and go. But the section being done by MTN under RCC is going to be completed by February next year and it is costing us N202 billion,” he said.

Umahi also disclosed that another 72-kilometre road section being handled by SKCC at the cost of N150 billion has already received 30 per cent payment.

“You can see the joy of it,” he noted.

The minister said the federal government is prioritising durable infrastructure, particularly concrete roads designed to last decades.

“The job of building roads by Mr President all over the country is that these roads will last 50 years to 100 years,” he said, drawing comparisons with the ongoing coastal highway project.

He highlighted key projects across the region, including the Enugu–Port Harcourt Expressway, the Owerri–Onitsha Expressway, and Section 2B of the Second Niger Bridge, valued at N176 billion.

“You go to Enugu now, you see the Artisan Bridge finished, dusted and delivered,” Umahi said.
“You go to Depot Junction in Eke-Obinagu, the biggest flyover in the South-East is going on there.”

Other projects listed include the Enugu–Abakaliki Road, costing N172 billion, and a major “legacy project” worth N424 billion, covering 123 kilometres from Ndibe Beach in Ebonyi State to the Benue border.

“These are the reasons why I said we do not have any reason again to agitate for Biafra,” he declared. “He that has started this great and beautiful thing, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, he will continue it.”

Umahi argued that the South-East’s political relevance should be pursued through strategy rather than rhetoric.

“We cannot retake our rightful position by sentiment and venomous statements,” he said. “It is by realities and being strategic.”

He described his support for President Tinubu and the recent defection of the Enugu State governor to the All Progressives Congress (APC) as deliberate political calculations.

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“I am supporting President Bola Tinubu; it is being strategic. The governor of Enugu State, coming over to APC, is being strategic,” Umahi stated.

The minister also praised governors in the region, particularly his successor in Ebonyi State.

“My governor in Ebonyi State; we have this culture of working without commissioning, and that’s what my dear governor is doing,” he said.

Umahi concluded by describing the moment as a turning point for the South-East.

“Even those that don’t want us to take our rightful position as South-East people, God has opened the time,” he said.
“This is our time, and this is the time that God has sent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reintegrate our people.”