By ClarityNewsNG
Works Minister David Umahi has claimed that the South-East received no federal project before President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
Speaking in Abuja on October 7, 2026, Umahi said:
“I was party chairman, I was deputy governor, I was governor, and no single federal project came to the South-East. And today, we are having a barrage of projects.”
The claim, however, does not match available Federal Government records.
What the records show
A 2021 Presidency document on infrastructure in the South-East listed more than 60 ongoing federal road and bridge projects across the region.
The projects included sections of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, Ihiala-Orlu Road in Anambra, Oba-Nnewi-Okigwe Road, Oseakwa Bridge, Owerri-Umuahia Road, Bende-Arochukwu-Ohafia Road and Abakaliki-Afikpo Road.
Federal Ministry of Works records also show that the Enugu-Lokpanta section of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway was awarded in March 2014, years before Tinubu assumed office.
The Second Niger Bridge
The Second Niger Bridge is another documented example.
The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission reported in 2015 that the bridge’s groundbreaking had been performed by former President Goodluck Jonathan. The project was subsequently continued under the Buhari administration.
The Buhari administration later listed the Second Niger Bridge among its major infrastructure projects, with the bridge connecting Asaba and Onitsha.
What about Umahi’s own experience?
Umahi has also made a narrower version of the claim.
In February 2026, he said that during his eight years as Ebonyi’s deputy governor and governor, “not a single federal road project came to the state.”
That is different from claiming that no federal project came to the entire South-East.
Verdict: FALSE
If Umahi’s October 7 statement is understood literally, it is not supported by the documented record.
Federal Government records show numerous projects in the South-East before Tinubu took office in May 2023, including major road projects and the Second Niger Bridge.
The evidence may support a debate about the scale, distribution, or adequacy of federal infrastructure investment in the region. It does not support the categorical claim that “no single federal project” came to the South-East before Tinubu.
ClarityNewsNG verdict: FALSE – when interpreted literally.
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