Denge Josef Onoh, the Chairman of Forum of Former Members of Enugu State House of Assembly, has rejected the Federal Government’s recent ₦610.13 billion infrastructure approvals, saying South-East road network exclusion was unacceptable.
Onoh, while reacting to the Federal Executive Council, FEC, announcement, said that the reduction of the federal infrastructural intervention for the entire South-East to a 50-year private concession for a trailer park was an insult to the region.
Of the ₦610.13 billion package, the South-East received 3.23% in the form of a ₦19.70 billion trailer park at Aro-Ngwa, Abia State – which is a Public-Private Partnership, PPP, concession which he said meant zero direct federal capital was being spent.
He compared the South-East’s alocation with others thus –
.Ekiti State Road Reconstruction, ₦159.83bn, 711.3% higher than the South-East allocation.
.Lagos–Ibadan Expressway Maintenance, ₦96.43bn, 389.5% more than the South-East allocation.
.Ogun State Ilara–Iselu Road, at ₦94.24bn, is 378.4% higher than the South-East allocation.
.Rivers State East-West Road Section, ₦74.51bn, or 278.2% more than the South-East allocation.
.Niger State Suleja-Minna Road Section got ₦56.75bn, whic is 188.1% higher than the South-East allocation.
.Ekiti State Phase II Road Rehabilitation at ₦54.52bn is 176.8% more than the allocation to the South-East.
.Ogun State Abeokuta–Iboro–Ilaro Road, with ₦54.12bn, is 174.7% higher than the South-East allocation.
He called the allocations a “deliberate, lopsided distribution of funds”.
Onoh rated the approved Aro-Ngwa Trailer Park as an economic dead-end for the South-East region rather than a development project.
He said that instead of easing the cost of doing business, the park would be an aggressive revenue extraction point that would penalise indigenous logistics companies and increase structural inflation for Eastern traders.
He called for a revisit of the issue insisting that the allocation neither reflected the fairness of the federal character principle, nor the economic importance of the South-East.
“My region deserves better Mr. President,” Onoh concluded.
