Senator Kenneth Eze Demands Inclusion of South East in N380 Billion Irrigation Fund

Senator Kenneth Emeka Eze, representing Ebonyi Central Senatorial District and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information and National Orientation, has called on the Federal Government to urgently address the exclusion of the South East geopolitical zone from the N380 billion Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund for irrigation projects captured in the proposed 2025 national budget.

Raising a Motion of Urgent National Importance during Senate plenary, Senator Eze, who also serves as Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Water Resources and Sanitation, decried what he described as a glaring and unjustifiable oversight in the allocation of the irrigation development fund. He noted with concern that while all other geopolitical zones were captured through their respective River Basin Development Authorities, the Anambra/Imo River Basin Development Authority—solely responsible for the South East—was entirely omitted.

“This exclusion is not only unjust but runs contrary to the principles of equity and balanced development enshrined in the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu,” Senator Eze said. “The South East is rich in arable land and has been a consistent contributor to Nigeria’s agricultural output. It is deeply troubling that such a region is entirely left out of a fund aimed at enhancing irrigation and food security.”

The Senator listed a number of ongoing and abandoned irrigation and dam projects in the region that would have benefited from the fund, including the Ozara Okangwu Agribusiness Cluster (Ebonyi), Ivo Dam Irrigation Project (Enugu), Item Amagu Ikwo Rice Farm Dam (Ebonyi), Amauzari Earth Dam (Imo), and the Ifite Ogwari/Omor Dam (Anambra).

Eze warned that the total exclusion of the region could not only undermine agricultural development and food security initiatives in the South East but also exacerbate long-standing sentiments of marginalization among its people.

He therefore urged President Tinubu and the Federal Ministries of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, and Water Resources and Sanitation to take immediate steps to correct the imbalance. Senator Eze also called on the Senate to establish an Ad-hoc Committee to investigate the circumstances that led to what he described as a “strategic oversight” in the fund’s allocation.

“This is not just a regional concern,” he emphasized, “but a national one. Equity in development is fundamental to national cohesion and progress.”