There is an old Igbo parable that the novelist Chinua Achebe of blessed memory once retold in a private conversation, years after he had written Arrow of God. A tortoise and a snake lived near the same stream. One dry season, a fire swept through the bush and burned the tortoise’s old shell, the one his mother had given him. The tortoise refused to leave the ashes. He sat there for three moons, weeping over what was lost. The snake, who had lost nothing in the fire, grew fat drinking from the stream. When the rains finally came, the tortoise was still sitting on the burnt ground, thirsty and thin. The snake said to him: ‘Brother, the water has returned. But you are looking the wrong way.’ The tortoise replied: ‘I am still mourning.’ And so he mourned and the rest was history.
That parable has followed me as I read the remarks made by Sam Onuigbo, the former member of the House of Representatives for Ikwuano/Umuahia North and South Federal Constituency. Onuigbo spoke recently at the inauguration of local government coordinators and executives of the City Boy Movement in Abia Central Senatorial Zone. He did something that takes courage in the political climate of the South East. He listed specific achievements of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration. He mentioned the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, known as NELFUND, which has begun to change the mathematics of higher education for poor children.
He mentioned the restoration of the Management Sciences programmes previously delisted at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, the only federal university in Abia State, under the Tinubu administration. He mentioned the unification of the foreign exchange rate, a policy that has caused short-term pain but has also killed the corrupt parallel market that bled the economy for decades. And he mentioned the increased revenue allocations to governors across all thirty-six states, including the five states of the South East.
He, however, urged state governors to ensure that the increased federal allocation translates into visible grassroots development, stressing that ordinary citizens must feel the impact of governance in their communities. Like President Tinubu, Oniugbo is a passionate advocate for local government autonomy—a cause he pursues with deep commitment.
Then he drew the logical conclusion. He backed Tinubu for re-election in 2027.
The reaction in certain quarters has been divided, but among progressives and patriotic citizens of the region, Onuigbo’s remarks have been well appreciated. Some have called him a turncoat. Others have dismissed his comments as the price of political patronage. But let us pause before joining that chorus, because the truth is that the South East has never had it so good under any administration since the return to democracy in 1999. That statement may provoke disbelief. But the evidence is overwhelming.
Consider the infrastructure revolution under way. The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has declared that President Tinubu has succeeded where previous governments failed by pushing the dualisation of the Enugu–Onitsha expressway to active completion. This is a 107-kilometre highway funded through MTN tax credits worth N202 billion. The Enugu–Port Harcourt highway is receiving similar attention. The Second Niger Bridge, that dream deferred for generations, is now fully operational with CCTV surveillance, solar lighting and police patrols funded by the federal government at a cost of N480 million. The Port Harcourt–Aba railway has been completed and is moving both goods and passengers. The federal government has also approved three billion dollars for the completion of the 2,044-kilometre Eastern Rail Line and 508 million dollars for upgrading eastern ports.
Then there is the South East Development Commission. For decades, the people of the South East called for a dedicated development framework to address the region’s unique challenges caused by the 1967-1970 civil war. President Tinubu answered that call. The SEDC is now operational, with a budget of N140 billion for the 2026 fiscal year. The five South East governors have agreed to contribute an additional N5 billion each, bringing a total of N25 billion in augmentation to the commission’s work. Why would governors from across the political divide put their own state funds into a federal initiative if they did not believe in its potential? The South East Development Commission is not a token. It is a serious instrument for reconstruction. And President Tinubu has now approved the creation of the South East Investment Company, which will serve as the platform to attract critical funds for the economic rebuilding of the region.
In aviation, the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu has been concessioned for upgrade and expansion. A brand new airport project is under way at Nsulu in Isiala Ngwa North Local Government Area of Abia State. The Minister of Aviation has noted that the Enugu airport terminal has suffered from being funded through the annual budget envelope system, which is precisely why the President has turned to special intervention funds to complete major national infrastructure like the Second Niger Bridge.
On education, the numbers speak for themselves. President Tinubu has voted more than N86 billion for the payment of school fees and upkeep of more than 400,000 students across the country under the NELFUND programme. Students from the South East are among the major beneficiaries. And just last month, the South East Renewed Hope Agenda flagged off a scholarship scheme to purchase JAMB registration forms for 50,000 indigent students across the five states of the region. That is 50,000 young men and women who can now sit for their university entrance examinations free of financial worry. Upon admission, they will access NELFUND to pay their school fees. The President has built a ladder from examination hall to lecture theatre to graduation.
The Ghanaian writer Ama Ata Aidoo told a story about a fisherman who refused to eat because the fish he caught was smaller than the one his grandfather used to catch. He sat on the shore, hungry, watching other men eat and grow strong. ‘That is not real fish,’ he would say. ‘The real fish are gone.’ He starved to death while his neighbours thrived on what the river still offered. The parable is brutal but necessary. The South East cannot afford to starve while waiting for the perfect political arrangement. It cannot afford to reject a President who has delivered more tangible infrastructure, education funding and development commissions than any of his predecessors, simply because he does not come from the region.
As the Igbo say, a child who refuses to wash his hands cannot eat with the elders. President Tinubu’s administration has delivered for the South East. The roads are being built. The railways are returning. The airports are being upgraded. The student loans are flowing. The development commission is funded and working. The investment company has been approved. The revenue allocations to states have increased. These are facts, not campaign rhetoric.
The question for the South East is simple. Will it sit on the burnt ground, mourning the shell it lost decades ago? Or will it turn towards the water that is already flowing? The past has its place. The grievances are real. But the past is not a place to live. The water is here. The river has returned. It would be a tragedy of historic proportions if the South East refused to drink.
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