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Abia State has emerged among the top-performing states in the 2026 BudgIT State of States Report, with the government also announcing plans to construct a 200-metre link road across the railway corridor in Umuahia.
The State Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, disclosed this in Umuahia while briefing journalists on the state’s recent performance and infrastructure plans.
Kanu said the BudgIT report, covering the 2017–2025 period, ranked Abia second in aggregate revenue growth and third in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) growth.
According to him, the state ranked first in total expenditure growth, capital expenditure growth and personnel expenditure growth.
He attributed the performance to what he described as prudent and strategic management of public resources by the state government.
“Abia State’s combination of revenue mobilisation, capital investment expansion and administrative cost restraint points to a story of adroit and prudent management of resources,” Kanu said.
The commissioner added that the BudgIT assessment was consistent with the recent Philips Consulting State Performance Index, which also identified Abia as one of Nigeria’s fastest-improving states.
Kanu, however, said the government was less interested in competing with other states than in translating improved fiscal performance into tangible benefits for residents.
He said the state had also concluded arrangements with the Nigerian Railway Corporation for the construction of a 200-metre road extension in Umuahia.
The road, according to him, will run from the Bende Road junction by Umuwaya and the Post Office Tower, through the railway crossing to the First Bank and Akanu Ibiam Road areas.
He said the project was part of the administration’s efforts to modernise the state’s transport infrastructure and improve traffic connectivity within the state capital.
Kanu disclosed that renovation work had also commenced on an existing structure within the railway station to facilitate the relocation of the police post currently situated there.
He added that the government would reconstruct the abandoned road linking the First Bank axis to the Keystone and FCMB banks area.
“Construction of the road will commence soon with the design and scoping of the road. Work has also commenced on the renovation and retrofitting of one of the existing structures within the railway station, with a view to relocating the present police post to another place,” he said.
Kanu said the projects formed part of the state government’s broader agenda to raise Abia’s transport sector to 21st-century standards.
