Minister of Works, and former governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, has dismissed calls for a separate Biafran State, saying it is no longer warranted, due to what he described as the unprecedented integration of the Igbo into Nigeria’s national development agenda under President Bola Tinubu.
Umahi made the remarks while inspecting ongoing federal projects in the southeast region.
He pointed out that sentiments of marginalisation, which had fuelled separatist movements, have significantly eased due to substantial federal investments in roads and other critical infrastructure across the southeast.
According to him, “There will be no need for Biafra again,” Umahi 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 gratitude 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,” he said.
The minister presented a list of ongoing and completed federal projects in the South-East, emphasising that many of them had stagnated for over 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.”
