Ohanaeze to FG: Complete South-east Renewed Hope projects before 2031

Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide Wednesday urged the federal government to ensure the completion of all ongoing Renewed Hope infrastructure projects in the South-east before the end of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration in 2031.

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation said the region was witnessing a major transformation in federal road infrastructure under the Tinubu administration, with the Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi, providing purposeful supervision of the projects.

In a statement signed by its Deputy President General, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, and Acting Secretary General, Prof. Chibuikeya Achoakawa, Ohanaeze described the current federal investment in South-east roads as one of the most significant infrastructure interventions in the region in several decades.

The organisation recalled that the South-east had not experienced such comprehensive federal attention to its road network since the intervention of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) in 1996.

Ohanaeze particularly commended President Tinubu for approving the 150-kilometre Oba–Nnewi–Uga–Ihube (Okigwe Junction) Federal Road Project, describing it as a landmark intervention that would reconnect communities in Anambra and Imo states.

It said the Uga–Ihube axis had suffered severe neglect for more than two decades, resulting in road failure, environmental deterioration and security challenges.

The organisation also listed the ongoing reconstruction of the 77-kilometre Enugu–Onitsha Expressway, the Enugu–Port Harcourt Expressway, Calabar–Ebonyi–Benue–Abuja Superhighway, Otuocha–Anam–Abaji Expressway and Afikpo–Uturu–Okigwe Expressway among projects capable of transforming the region’s economy.

It further highlighted the 250-kilometre Makurdi–9th Mile–Enugu Highway dualisation project as a strategic national corridor expected to improve connectivity between the North Central and Southeast.

Ohanaeze said Ndi Igbo were interested in continuity, completion and delivery rather than political promises, adding that abandoned projects had historically denied communities the benefits of federal investments.