They say if you want to hide anything from a people, put it in a national development plan.
The South-East didn’t fall asleep. Our leaders just blinked—and when they opened their eyes, the gas pipeline had gone north. Literally.
A billion-dollar infrastructure trail—the AKK pipeline—cuts from Ajaokuta to Kaduna to Kano. Billions sunk, jobs created, industries revived. And the South-East? Skipped like a bad note in a beautiful song. No pipeline, no valve station, no access point. Not even a decent excuse.
Here’s the bitter pill:
The South-East sits on some of Nigeria’s largest natural gas reserves. That’s right. Enugu, Anambra, and Imo have proven gas potential, yet no major pipeline infrastructure links them to the national grid. The gas flows—but not to us.
Now ask yourself: how does Aba become an industrial hub without gas? How does Nnewi build world-class factories with diesel generators? How do we talk “development” when the pipelines that power the future conveniently detour around us?
Let’s call this what it is: economic strangulation by exclusion.
This isn’t just a technical omission—it’s strategic negligence. And silence is complicity. The cost?
Stifled industrial growth
Disincentivized investment
Mass youth unemployment
Continued migration of our brightest minds
And while we clap at commissioning ceremonies in other regions, we pretend not to notice the power lines skipping our homes.
Dear political leaders, senators, governors, Ohanaeze, technocrats, captains of industry—how long will you watch from the sidelines while the South-East is structurally sidelined?
If we must demand restructuring, it must start with infrastructure. Not slogans. Not conferences. Not PR. Pipelines. Power. Progress.
It’s not too late. But the clock’s ticking—and the silence is deafening.
By Linus Anagboso.
( D-BIG PEN).
