Beyond the Lekki Illusion: Aba’s Real Manufacturing Might Humiliates Lagos’ Paper Economy
The narrative of “Lagos Boiled by Igbo Economy” and the potential for Aba to rival China in West Africa is not merely entrepreneurial aspiration; it is a story underscored by official data and a telling political context. The failure of President Bola Tinubu to personally commission the new projects of monumental significance for the industrial revival of the South-East, on multiple scheduled occasions may speak volumes to ignorant minds, but stop and ponder for a second. This perceived snub, whether logistical or political, stands in stark contrast to the project’s potential, as quantified by national agencies. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) consistently reports Abia State as a leading contributor to national manufacturing and trade, despite operating for decades with a crippling power deficit. The Aba Power Plant, the first independent, integrated utility in Nigeria, is designed to directly address this, with the potential to unlock the productive capacity that the NBS has only been able to measure in a state of severe constraint.
The Irony of Opposition Critique and a History of Federal Neglect
The hypocritical glee from certain opposition quarters regarding this presidential absence is a study in political irony. Many of these voices were previously in power and presided over the systematic neglect of Aba’s infrastructure, a neglect documented in the sorry state of federal roads as chronicled by the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) and the historic lack of significant federal presence. For decades, the ingenuity of Aba’s artisans, which the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has acknowledged through various intervention funds for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), flourished not because of, but in spite of, the federal government. The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has long struggled to optimize collection in the South-East’s informal sector, a testament to an economy built on self-reliance rather than state support.
Aba’s Future: Measured by Statistics, Not Ceremony
Historically, this disconnect is rooted in a post-civil war policy landscape that deliberately marginalized the Igbo entrepreneurial base. The current administration’s tepid ceremonial engagement with a project that could reverse this legacy and significantly boost Nigeria’s GDP—as measured by the NBS—is therefore a continuation of a flawed historical pattern. It ignores the fact that a revitalized Aba means a stronger national economy, with higher formalized VAT and Company Income Tax collections for the FIRS and increased economic activity that would positively impact the CBN’s key metrics. The focus, instead of being on these tangible economic benefits, has been diverted by political theater. The real story is that Aba’s potential to become a regional industrial hub is finally being unlocked by focused state-level governance under Dr. Alex Otti, and its success will be recorded not by presidential appearances, but by the future statistics of the NBS, CBN, and FIRS.
AProf Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke
