By ANGELA ATABO

Minister of Works, David Umahi, has dismissed claims of marginalization by the South-East and North-West zones under the President Bola Tinubu administration, describing it as political.

Umahi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview in Abuja on Sunday that such sentiments in the two zones were not rooted in reality.

Even though the minister acknowledged the south-east’s historical grievances, he, however, insisted that the current administration had treated the zone fairly, particularly in terms of infrastructure development and key federal appointments.

According to him, the president is not just working for the south-east alone, but also for other zones.

The former Governor of Ebonyi also said that the same attention was being paid to the North-West zone.

“Of a fact, when the Director-General of Budget Office x-rayed the infrastructure development nationwide, the north-west came like three or four times more than the south-east and the north-east.

“The south-east did not have such at all before. Like in the NNPC projects, we had only five per cent, whereas some zones had 26 per cent. So, the cry of marginalization now is political and not rooted in reality.

“Shall we continue in sin that grace will abound? The answer is No; God forbid, because the south-east has passed from the point of marginalization to this point. If we didn’t get all the appointments, we can be saying so and then be addressing it,” he said.

According to Umahi, the South-East ought to appreciate the president for the good works he has done in the zone, adding that the economic activities and security of the south-east as well as the infrastructure development are far better than appointments.

“We are not saying we do not need it (appointments). But if you put this one and this one, we choose this one. Because we never tasted this one. So, let us taste this one.

“We have had very good appointments in the past like Secretary to the Government of the Federation, ministers of finance, education, aviation.

“So we can chew the cud like the goat chews the cud; when you don’t have it, you bring it out and then chew; likewise we can chew the cud in respect of this.

“But I believe strongly that we are going to do much better in 2027. And when we have the spirit of ‘Emi l’okan’ (it’s my turn), we can come and say look, we need more appointments and the president will do it for us,” he said.

Umahi said that serious work was ongoing to see how the entire South-East zone could be brought behind Tinubu, adding that it’s all about interests.

According to him, if the south-east’s interest is properly protected, the zone will give the president a vote to thank him for what he is doing for them.

This, he said, was because the projects currently being executed by the president the south-east were key projects which the zone had been denied of in the past, resulting in some form of economic backwardness.

He said that even though the region was terribly marginalized in the past, that that had become a thing of the past now.

“We are breathing now, and because we are breathing now, the man that has made us to breath, particularly in Ebonyi State, we are going to give him the votes, and nobody will distract us again,” he said.

Umahi further stated that part of the reasons the south-east performed poorly during the 2023 general elections was because the previous administrations did not treat the zone well.

“So there was that anger, and then the hunger came by the issue of redesigning of the Naira and making it very unavailable, and then the scarcity of petroleum products.

“And that brought a lot of hunger, and then you had the Muslim-Muslim ticket, you know. So our religious leaders brainwashed us but I kept telling them: ‘Who is he that speaketh when God has not spoken?

“Now they have seen that in the President Bola Tinubu administration, Christians are enjoying 61 per cent.

“And when the Senate in USA said there is religious persecution (in Nigeria); that is not true; we all have our freedom here as Christians and Muslims,” he said.

He also dismissed the allegation of marginalization of the north-west zone by the present administration, saying that the region was equally enjoying patronage in terms of development projects.

He said: “What I am saying is very evident. Look at Sokoto to Zamfara road, Zamfara to Katsina to Kaduna; that’s a 375-kilometre road by two, which makes it 750 kilometres, and the president redesigned it mostly on concrete; that’s about N825 billion; that project is ongoing.

“The Abuja to Kano road project, apart from the fact that when we came on board, the president had paid over N50 billion, but presently, the projects we have awarded are about 118 to 164 kilometres at N754 billion. That project is also ongoing.

“We have 100.1 kilometers of Kano-Jigawa road; that project is about N199 billion and it is ongoing. Of course, the legacy project, which is about N3 trillion, within Sokoto; we have the Kano-Northern Bypass project, the Kaduna-Eastern Bypass, all ongoing.

“You have the 136 kilometers by two road project, by BUA tax credits, passing through Kano, Jigawa and then Katsina state. Is it the Hadejia road project? Time will fail me to tell you about all the projects.”

The minister said that the north-west zone deserved all the projects going on there because they voted very well for the president, adding that he was supporting Tinubu to get the projects finished substantially before the 2027 general elections.

“So I do not begrudge them; they are very good people,” he said. (NAN)