Comparing Enugu State and Abia State Is a Wrong Comparison – By Dr Otti Nwaka

Comparing Enugu State and Abia State Is a Wrong Comparison – By Dr Otti Nwaka

For many years the conversation around South East development often ended in unfair comparisons, and one of the most repeated was placing Enugu and Abia State on the same scale of infrastructural progress. The truth however is that the two states do not share the same trajectory, the same starting point, or the same political history, and so to compare them directly in terms of infrastructure is to ignore context, data, and lived reality. Enugu, as a former regional capital and a state with a long history of federal presence, institutions, and a relatively stable civil service structure, enjoyed certain advantages that Abia never had. Abia on the other hand was created with less federal infrastructure, a weaker industrial base, and for 24 years it was subjected to a cycle of misrule, contract padding, abandoned projects, and leadership that prioritized personal enrichment over public works. Roads that should have been completed in 12 months took 8 years and still remained impassable. Hospitals were left as empty shells. Schools existed in name only. Markets and public spaces were overtaken by refuse, erosion, and decay. Investors avoided the state because the environment was hostile to business, and that further starved Abia of the Internally Generated Revenue needed to fund meaningful development.

That 24-year period created a deep trench that Abia had to climb out of, and it is within this context that the emergence of Dr Alex Otti becomes significant. From the moment he assumed office, the administration made a clear departure from the politics of excuses and moved into the politics of results. The focus was not on propaganda but on visible, measurable infrastructure that ordinary citizens could feel in their daily lives. Roads that had become death traps for over a decade were reconstructed and delivered on schedule. The Port Harcourt Road in Aba, which became a symbol of abandonment under past administrations, was not only flagged off but completed and opened to traffic, restoring commerce and dignity to that axis. The same seriousness was applied to roads in Umuahia, Ohafia, Bende, and other LGAs that had been written off as ungovernable. Beyond roads, there was deliberate investment in healthcare infrastructure, with general hospitals being retrofitted and equipped, and in education, where dilapidated public schools are being rehabilitated to meet modern standards. The government also cleaned up the urban environment, tackled waste management, restored street lighting in major cities, and created a business-friendly atmosphere that is gradually bringing back investors and traders who had relocated to other states.

This is why comparing present-day Abia to Enugu on infrastructure misses the point. Enugu was not starting from a 24-year hole of systemic collapse. Abia was. And yet, in a very short time, the Otti administration has been able to alter the perception of the state, not by speeches, but by asphalt, by functioning hospitals, by restored markets, and by a government that shows up to work. Dr Alex Otti deserves commendation for digging Abia State out of the trenches of misrule and incompetence and laying a new foundation where development can actually be tracked, measured, and sustained. The work is still ongoing, but the direction is clear. Abia is no longer a state defined by what it lacks. It is now a state defined by what is being built, and that is a standard that cannot be fairly compared to states that did not have to recover from the same depth of neglect.
Thanks to Dr Alex Otti for giving Abia State a great facelift in all aspects of governance. 2027 is a sure 4+4 = 8.

By Mazi Dr Otti Nwaka, hc
Social & Political Commentator.