Some time last year, the abandonment of Onitsha Port generated serious concerns on the floor of the House, following a motion moved on it by the member representing Idemili North and South Federal Constituency of Anambra State, Hon Obinna Chidoka.

Ndubuisi Orji

The issue of the abandoned Onitsha Inland Port came to the fore again in the House of Representatives last week. It was at a three day public hearing organised by the House Committee on Ports, Harbour and Waterways chaired by Hon Patrick Asadu, to investigate the abandonment of the Onitsha Inland Port among other issues.

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Speaking at the public hearing, the Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) General Manager in charge of Research, Planning and Evaluation, Mr. Istifanus Magwe confirmed that the Onitsha Inland Port was abandoned five years ago, for inexplicable reasons.

According to Magwe, NIWA abandoned the Onitsha Ports since 2013 because they were waiting for “orders from above.” For the the committee, it was disappointing that NIWA has failed to put the Onitsha Inland Port to use since 2013, in spite of huge sums of money expended on the project by the federal government. It stated that investment in the Port seem to have gone down the drain.

Some time last year, the abandonment of Onitsha Port generated serious concerns on the floor of the House, following a motion moved on it by the member representing Idemili North and South Federal Constituency of Anambra State, Hon Obinna Chidoka.

Chidoka had in his motion called on the House “to investigate the abandonment of Onitsha Inland Port”, which was conceptualised during the administration President Shehu Shagari in the second republic; as a port of origin and final destination for cargoes, in order to ease the perennial congestion of the Lagos ports.

The lawmaker had explained that the port was abandoned when the military overthrew the regime of Shagari in 1984, noting that work started on it again in 2009 when the government of President Umaru Yar’Adua took interest in the port and awarded a contract valued at N4.182 billion to rehabilitate the facility.

According to him, the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan completed rehabilitation of the port and commissioned it in 2012 as bonded wharf where the Nigeria Customs Service and other agencies would generate revenues through export and import of cargoes.

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Chidoka had lamented that despite the huge resources spent on the seaport, it is allowed to deteriorate while other ports, particularly the Lagos port is congested with goods largely imported by businesses situated close to Onitsha port.

The debate on the motion generated diverse opinion on the status of the Onitsha Inland Port, with Hon Lynda Ikpeazu representing Onitsha North and South Federal Constituency of Anambra State arguing that the port has not been abandoned. Ikpeazu had stated that that it is unfair for anyone to say that the Onitsha Port was abandoned, noting that the government had mandated NIWA to get consultants to do Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) and social report on the seaport.

“Once, they are doing that (EIA), the Minister of Finance will now go to FEC and get approval. It is also important to know that the Minister of Finance had already gotten World Bank loan, not specific for this, but this inclusive.

“It is a process that has already started. So, it is unfair to say that it has been abandoned. If the issue was raised some years back, one would be okay to say that it was abandoned. It is not abandoned,” she had contended.

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After the heated debate, the House adopted the motion and mandated its Committee on Ports, Habour and Waterways to investigate why the Onitsha Inland Port is not operational, five years after it was commissioned.

The House also directed the Federal Ministry of Transportation and the Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) to undertake the dredging of River Niger to facilitate passage of vessels and badges from the sea to the Onitsha Inland Port facility.

Regardless, at last week public hearing, NIWA cleared all doubts that the Onitsha Inland Port, was actually abandoned five years ago, because it is waiting for “orders from above”.

It is curious that a project of that magnitude, with enormous economic potentials, could be abandoned by the government for five years running, after hundreds of millions of naira had been expended on it, because the agency concern is waiting for “orders from above.”

Like I stated on this column when the issue of Onitsha Port was debated by the House last year, it is imperative for the Port to work in the overall interest of the country.

Goodenough, the House Committee on Ports, Harbour and Waterways has waded into the abandonment of the Onitsha Port. And I believe that in its report to the House, the Committee will make far reaching recommendations that will help in the quick take off of the Port.

Beyond that, one expects the Committee to get the Federal Ministry of Transportation and NIWA to comply with the House resolution directing them to undertake the dredging of River Niger, so as to facilitate passage of vessels and badges from the sea to the Onitsha Inland Port.

It does not make sense economically, and otherwise that while the Lagos Port is congested with its attendant consequences for the state and the residents, other ports in the country are not functional. It is an open secret that the decongestion of the Lagos Port is tied to how functional the other ports, particularly the Onitsha Port, are.

The truth is that if the Onitsha Port becomes functional, it will ease the pressure on the Lagos Port. And in return, business men and women in Anambra and the South East at large, as well as the entire country .will benefit immensely from it.

I do not want to believe that the government does not intend for the Onitsha Port to function, otherwise it would not have to committted so much revenue into it. Therefore, it is a challenge for the present administration to make the Port work. While the actions of the House, in respect to take off of Onitsha Port is commendable, the Green chamber must not rest on its oars until the Port becomes fully operational.

I expect the pan Igbo body, Ohaneze Ndigbo to take more interest in the project, especially in the run-up to the 2019 general elections. There is need for Igbo leaders to lobby extensively for this project. They must lobby the government. In fact, lobby anyone who could help in facilitating the quick take off of the port.

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As politicians come to campaign for Igbo votes in the 2019 general election, the actualisation of the Onitsha Port must form part of whatever demands the South East will be making from any of the parties, they intend to support for next year’s polls.