N712 BILLION FOR LAGOS AIRPORT, N150 BILLION FOR SOUTHEAST DEVELOPMENT: A CASE STUDY IN in NATIONAL BIAS?
By Marvelous Odike
When the Nigerian government announced the allocation of N712 billion for the renovation of the Lagos Airport, and in the same breath earmarked just N150 billion for the Southeast Development Commission, covering five states, it wasn’t just a budgetary decision—it was a loud, unapologetic slap across the face of equity, justice, and federal balance.
Let’s break it down.
One Airport vs. Five States?
How do you rationalize spending almost five times more on a single airport than on the entire development of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States combined? Lagos is just one city. The Southeast is a region that has long suffered infrastructural neglect, economic strangulation, and political exclusion. Yet, when the crumbs finally fall from the federal table, we are told to smile at N150 billion—a figure that barely scratches the surface of what is needed to fix decades of deliberate underdevelopment.
Is this fair? Is this federal character? Is this how to build a nation?
A Question of Priorities
We are told Lagos is the commercial capital. True. But is that an excuse to perpetually prioritize its needs at the expense of others? The airport already functions, while parts of the Southeast still battle with impassable roads, poor electricity, water scarcity, and crumbling schools. Entire communities in the region live in conditions that would be considered unacceptable even in war zones.
So why is Lagos getting gold-plated terminals while Southeast children learn under leaking roofs.
Southeast: Always the Afterthought?
Let’s call this what it is: a systemic pattern of marginalization. From federal appointments to resource allocation, the Southeast has consistently drawn the short straw. The region contributes immensely to the Nigerian economy—through trade, diaspora remittances, and human capital—yet when it’s time to share the national cake, we’re handed the burnt leftovers and told to be grateful.
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N150 billion spread across five states is an insult, not an investment.
This is Not Just About Numbers
This is about perception. Optics. Respect. Development. It is about telling the people of the Southeast, for the umpteenth time, that their concerns do not matter, that their region is less worthy, and that they must wait for another committee, another feasibility study, another empty promise.
You can’t preach unity with one hand and practice discrimination with the other. This disparity in funding is a ticking time bomb, a fuel for further distrust and alienation.
We Deserve Answers
The Federal Government must answer:
Who approved this lopsided allocation?
What metrics justify N712B for one project, and just N150B for an entire region?
What development indices were considered?
Who is truly benefiting from this “overhaul”?
Until those questions are answered, this smells like another high-level heist disguised as governance.
Final Word
If Nigeria is to survive as one nation, then equity must not just be preached—it must be practiced. We must stop treating some regions like royalty and others like squatters. The Southeast deserves more than crumbs. It deserves dignity, development, and a seat at the national table—not in the shadows, not as an afterthought.
Because no region should ever feel like it needs to beg to be part of a country it helped build.