Why Central States Partnership and Alignment Matter, by Tunde Rahman

After twenty-seven years of uninterrupted democracy, Nigeria’s federal structure remains our best tool for managing diversity and fostering development. But federalism is neither a competition between Abuja and subnational countries, nor a zero-sum competition for relevance. It is a pact, an agreement to work together: maintaining some powers and granting others to the central government for adequate coordination.

The principle of federalism, as articulated by constitutional scholars such as AV Dicey and KC Wheare, is based on three pillars: devolution of powers, supremacy of the constitution and non-centralization.

In Nigeria, this division of power occurs through exclusive, concurrent and residual lists. Defense, immigration, currency and foreign policy, among others, reside in the center while education, healthcare, local land and roads fall to the states and local government councils.

Many will argue that Nigeria is overly centralized and that the center in Abuja has excessive powers. This may be difficult to refute. However, the devolution of power is not a division of purposes. When the center and subnationals work with cross-cutting objectives, citizens pay the price. When they collaborate and align, real development can occur. Alignment does not mean giving up autonomy. It is the exercise of joint responsibility so that roads can be well paved, schools can be built and supplied with educational materials, and society in general can be better.

The days when the regional government did not touch a central government project due to different party affiliations should be over – as happened in some states during the Second Republic.

The importance of collaboration, strategic partnership and alignment between the center and states came into focus last week during the national media tour of Ambassadors of Renewed Hope legacy projects undertaken by the federal and state governments in the South East. The tour, which took the team to Ebonyi, Enugu and Abia states, was informative, particularly regarding the benefits of collaboration and alignment between the core states.

Three of the many key projects the team inspected during the tour of the Southeast illustrate the importance of the strategic partnership between the center and subnational countries.

In Enugu State, for example, President Bola Tinubu’s administration, under the Renewed Hope Agenda on road infrastructure, initiated a 23-span flyover bridge project at Eke Obinagu Interchange along the ever-busy Enugu-Abakaliki Expressway to eliminate traffic gridlock at the junction. The ongoing project with a 345 meter long, 1.05 kilometer bridge (dual service road) cost $25.3 billion. To complement and align with the Tinubu government on the project, Enugu State is dualizing the 21.5 kilometer portion of the Enugu-Abakaliki highway and constructing five bridges.

It is also instructive to note that the Tinubu administration’s flybridge project and the dualisation of the Abakaliki-Enugu highway itself were the triggers for Ebonyi State Governor Francis Nwifuru’s decision to build the Ezillo-Ezzaegu road. This construction starts from the Abakaliki-Enugu dual carriageway in Ishielu Local Government and has opened up four rural communities.

A slightly different but no less remarkable story of alignment abounds in Abia State. The 50 kilometer Umuahia-Ohafia road through Bende is a federal government road. While the Tinubu administration was constructing the road, Abia State Governor Alex Otti intervened decisively by providing a massive bridge across Asaga area in Ohafia to further strengthen the road. The new bridge replaces the old Omenuko Bridge, where, in 1985, the popular Reverend Uma Ukpai (died 6 October 2025, aged 80) lost two of his children and a cousin. They were traveling to participate in a Christian crusade, but accidentally ended up in the river that bordered the bridge.

It also emerged during the tour that President Tinubu graciously approved the concession of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, the first of its kind to be granted in this way. Incidentally, the concession documents were signed in Abuja by the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, and the concessionaire on the day we visited the already abandoned international wing of Enugu Airport. The presidential gesture aims to revive the international wing of the airport built by former Aviation Minister Stella Oduah during President Goodluck Jonathan’s regime. Since then the imposing building has been literally moribund.

We have inspected many projects in the three states mentioned above. Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu has been very intentional with the projects he is putting in place under a broad vision, where one project logically links to another to create a modern, efficient and prosperous Enugu.

The team inspected the 40 kilometer Owo-Ubahu-Amankanu-Umualor-Ikem dual carriageway, a virgin road created by cutting through forested areas; the New Enugu City, a 10,000 hectare smart city designed to decongest the Enugu metropolis with an existing dual carriageway road infrastructure; the modern Enugu International Hospital; tractor assembly and assistance plant; Smart Green School GTC Campus I; and the Command and Control Center where movement and security within the entire Enugu city and its forests are monitored through cameras embedded with artificial intelligence to nip crime in the bud.

Governor Nwifuru has turned the entire Ebonyi State into a huge construction site with ongoing projects such as the iconic Vanco Junction Flyover/Tunnel Bridge, ICT University, Oferekpe in Izzi LGA, Aeronautic and Aerospace University in Ezza South LGA, Amanze Housing Estate, the 24 kilometer Umuogudu Oshia-NIGERCEM road and the International Trade Center which has been redeveloped into an international hotel with 182 beds, including others.

Abia State is no different in terms of infrastructure and legacy projects. Projects inspected in the State include the 67.6 kilometer Umuahia–Uzuakoli–Akara–Ohafia strategic road, a major transportation corridor connecting several communities across the State; Ohafia-Umuahia Federal Road; the new Nnenna Oti Bus Terminal in Umuahia, a modern transport hub designed to transform public transport in Abia State; and the Renewed Hope Housing Estate in Umuahia, a Federal Housing Authority flagship project comprising 1,200 housing units. This initiative represents one of the largest housing development projects under President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Housing programme. The Abia State Government has provided the land and paid compensation to the affected landowners, while the Federal Housing Authority is undertaking the construction.

What all the highlighted projects have demonstrated is the fact that Nigerians do not experience “federalism”. They experiment with streets, hospitals, schools and markets. A federal highway that stops at a state border, or a primary health center without drugs, helps no one. The Universal Basic Education Act requires states to provide counterpart funding. Where states align or provide matching funds, classrooms appear. Where this does not happen, federal appropriations remain unused.

Terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and climate displacement do not respect state borders. The Nigerian military can degrade terrorist command centers, but sustainable peace requires state intelligence, community policing and local reintegration programs such as Operation Safe Corridor. No level of government can protect Nigeria alone.

Even when it comes to the economy, investors will see “Nigeria”, not “Rivers or Lagos State”. Taxes, permits and conflicting regulations increase the costs of doing business. This is why Tinubu’s government has reformed the tax system, collapsing multiple taxes and eliminating some obsolete ones.

That’s why alignment through PEBEC and state Ease of Doing Business reforms helped push non-oil exports to $12.8 billion, an increase of 21%.

Misalignment produces duplication, abandoned projects, “us versus them” legal and political battles. It turns politics into confusion and budgets into waste.
In a federal system, the distance between politics and citizens is bridged by coordination – or widened by its absence.
Federalism does not ask Abuja to do everything, nor does it ask states to do nothing. It asks each level to do what it does best: together.

*Rahman is Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Media and Special Duties.