President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday described a $100 million South-East gas pipeline project as a strategic investment that would strengthen manufacturing and unlock economic opportunities across the region’s five states.
Represented by Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Benjamin Kalu at the project’s investment signing ceremony in Enugu, Tinubu said the 400-kilometre pipeline would connect gas resources to industrial and commercial centres in Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Abia and Ebonyi.
“The South-East’s entrepreneurial spirit is one of Nigeria’s greatest economic assets. I have always believed that the prosperity of the Southeast is inseparable from the prosperity of Nigeria,” he said.
Tinubu stressed that the project aligned with his administration’s commitment to building an integrated regional economy, noting that gas infrastructure should support industrial development across state boundaries rather than serve isolated markets.
“Gas infrastructure must therefore serve industries and markets, not stop at political boundaries. That is the economic logic of regional integration,” he added.
He said the pipeline would benefit manufacturers in Aba, strengthen industrial clusters in Nnewi and Onitsha, attract enterprises to Enugu, expand agro-processing and manufacturing in Ebonyi, and connect Imo’s gas resources to the wider regional economy.
The president said the ambition went beyond supplying existing factories to creating conditions for new industries, industrial parks and investments previously stalled by unreliable energy supply.
“Our ambition is not simply to deliver gas to existing factories. It is to make possible factories that do not yet exist, industrial parks yet to be developed, and investments that have remained on the drawing board because reliable energy was unavailable,” Tinubu said.
He described the South-East Development Commission as an institution established to deliver measurable development outcomes, urging it to measure success by investments mobilised, infrastructure enabled, opportunities created and lives improved.
Tinubu noted that the South-East Vision 2050 framework, supported by Vice-President Kashim Shettima and regional governors, provided a foundation for coordinated economic growth. He also commended the commission for committing $3 million to the project and establishing a framework to mobilise further investments from state governments, institutions and private investors.
The project’s initial phase requires approximately $100 million, with the president describing the partnership between public institutions and private investors as essential for developing sustainable infrastructure.
