President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recent visit to Anambra State was marked by both grand political theater and renewed scrutiny over the exclusion of Nigeria’s Southeast from critical national infrastructure planning.
Speaking at a civic reception in Awka on Thursday, Tinubu announced that Anambra State would be included in the National Rail Development Plan. According to a statement issued by presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga, the president assured that the Ministry of Transportation would correct the exclusion.
“I am standing before you to say that the Ministry of Transportation is aware and will include the connection in the Master Plan and give it attention,” Tinubu was quoted as saying during the ceremony at Alex Ekwueme Square.
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But just as the applause faded, the moment gave way to a deeper national conversation—one not just about railways, but about equity, regional politics, and Nigeria’s long-standing developmental fault lines.
That conversation intensified when Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo, declared Tinubu as the adopted presidential candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for the 2027 general election, despite Tinubu being a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“In 2011, before I joined APGA in 2013, the party took an official position to support and collaborate with the political party and government at the center. That year, APGA adopted the then-sitting president as its presidential candidate. That policy has not changed,” Soludo said.
“Coincidentally, Mr. President, the current government at the center also professes progressivism. As Nigeria’s foremost progressive party, APGA is ideologically and strategically aligned with the center. Those in the APC are our brothers and sisters,” he added.
This unprecedented endorsement, delivered at a state-funded civic reception, has raised critical questions about the integrity of federal development decisions. Many have asked: Is inclusion in Nigeria’s national development agenda now contingent on supporting the president’s political ambitions?
Rail Projects and Regional Disparities
The national rail master plan is captured in the 2025 budget, which allocates N400 billion to rail projects across four states—Kano, Kaduna, Ogun, and Lagos—with no provision for any Southeast or South-South state.
The breakdown of allocations is as follows:
- N150 billion to Kano State
- N100 billion each to Ogun and Kaduna States
- N50 billion to Lagos State for light rail
- An additional N146.14 billion to Lagos for the Green Line Metro Rail Phase 1
This brings Lagos’s total rail allocation to N196.14 billion—the largest share among the four states. In contrast, oil-producing states like Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, and Akwa Ibom, as well as commercial hubs like Anambra, Abia, and Enugu, are excluded from any rail investment.
Many believe that this disparity is not accidental. Rather, it reflects a continuity of systemic exclusion that has characterized Nigeria’s federal development strategy since after the civil war.
The Southeast and South-South regions together account for the bulk of Nigeria’s oil revenue, which remains the primary source of federal income. Yet, in key infrastructure projects, from highways to railways to energy transmission, the regions are believed to have been frequently left behind.
In 2021, under former President Muhammadu Buhari, the federal government controversially approved the construction of a railway line from Kano to Maradi in Niger Republic. The project, valued at over $1.9 billion, was flagged by critics as emblematic of sectional favoritism, especially as no corresponding rail investment was planned for the Southeast.
Some political analysts have criticized what happened in Anambra, arguing that it risks creating a dangerous precedent where regions must barter their political independence to earn what should be their constitutional right.
Tinubu’s decision to include Anambra in the national railway plan is believed to have been motivated by politics, mainly, Soludo’s endorsement of the president’s 2027 reelection.
The Cost of Marginalization
For many in the Southeast and South-South, the issue is far bigger than a single rail line. It is about decades of federal neglect that have stifled economic potential, increased youth unemployment, and fueled separatist sentiments.
The regions’ lack of critical infrastructure, such as functioning seaports, is another point of reference, leading to the belief that this underdevelopment is by design, part of a national framework that favors some zones while undermining others.
“The South-South and the South-East should vehemently oppose this economic logic that the way to open trade is to deliberately refuse the diversification of maritime operations to the Eastern Corridor,” an economist, Kelvin Emmanuel, said.
He noted that instead of developing the seaports in the Eastern Corridor, the federal government is building a coastal road so containers and liquid bulk can travel on that road back and forth to sea ports in Lagos.
“Apapa is a river port, and Lekki is the only deep sea port in Lagos. Considering that Akwa Ibom has the shortest shore to sea of 16km in Nigeria, the Eastern Corridor is even more suitable for maritime operations than the Western Corridor,” he added.
The unfolding decisions are believed to be more political than economic, resulting in a lack of faith in the Nigerian project and feeding longstanding calls for restructuring or even secession.
While President Tinubu’s pledge may bring temporary optimism for Anambra, it does not overshadow the bigger challenge, which is whether federal development will ever be driven by need, merit, and equity, rather than political sentiment.