NewStats: 3,261,455 , 8,174,068 topics. Date: Thursday, 29 May 2025 at 10:37 AM 262n4q

Operationalize Onitsha River Port to boost Anambra’s IGR, Ex-banker, Onyemelukwe urges Soludo


Anambra State Government has been told to intensify efforts at attracting private investors to operationalize the Onitsha River Port, as a means of opening new streams of revenue for the state.
A former banker from Igboukwu, Anambra State, Chief Eusebius Onyemelukwe made the call while speaking to newsmen on the state of the economy of Anambra State.
Statistics released by an investment platform, show that the Onitsha River Port has the potential to generate over N23 billion to the government.
Although efforts had started by the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) to make the port functional in recent times, the port is yet the efforts have not materialized.
According to Chief Onyemelukwe, although Anambra State has very huge inland waterway resources, successive governments have not been able to harness the potential to make the state known in the maritime industry in Nigeria.
He revealed that if vessels start offloading containers at the River Port at Onitsha, it will complement the state's commerce and industry potential.
Onyemelukwe also said it will reduce the huge cost traders incur, having to move goods by road from Lagos down to the state and other parts of the Southeast.
“Operationalizing the Onitsha port will be an additional source of income for the state.
“I want to urge Governor Soludo to liaise with the Kogi State Government to also develop the River Port at Lokoja for easy shipping of containers to the North.
“The bigger vessels that will bring these containers from abroad will trans-load to smaller vessels at the Nigerian seashore so that the smaller vessels move along the River Niger waterways to convey those containers to the River Port Onitsha and Lokoja River Port.
““That way, the government also saves funds which would have been spent on rehabilitating roads due to the toll the heavy-duty trucks conveying goods by road will have on these roads.
“So, it is a win-win situation for everybody,” he said.
Onyemelukwe, who is also ionate about the development of Anambra South Senatorial District, advised Governor Soludo, to commit to the aggressive construction of roads, flyovers and other infrastructure, to ease movement and boost business activities in the zone.
“I appeal to Governor Soludo to construct a roundabout flyover at the heart of the industrial town of Nnewi and to dualize all the roads that link to the roundabout flyover.
He said; “This project if executed, will give a leap to the economic growth and commercialization of Nnewi City to world standard.”
The financial expert also called on the state government to consider ing private investors to develop a Modular Refinery at Aguleri in Anambra East Council Area of the state.
This he noted, will help reduce scarcity of petroleum products in the state, while contributing to the growth of the economy of the state.

I thought they said IGR is not important in igbo land

Why did they stop it in the first place

It will be far cheaper to simply move containers
by road from Onne or Warri to Onitsha than through shallow berth vessels like the barge in the OP's picture.

Let me explain:

1. The waterways leading into Onitsha from the mouth of the Atlantic are very shallow and filled with silt.

2. You need to dredge the waterways constantly and this is not cheap.

3. Even after dredging, blue water container vessels can not make the trip directly to Onitsha port .

4. That means the containers heading to Onitsha need to be offloaded at Warri or Onne onto barges and transported inland to Onitsha. The cost of operating such barges will be far higher than say land or rail.

5. Even if you want to still operate such route as above, know that it will be a one way journey as there's hardly anything that Onitsha or the SE in its entirety produces for export that will see to the barge making a second leg trip carrying goods.

All the itemized points above makes Onitsha port unviable and not cost effective. If SE was an independent nation, maybe this would make sense but there are hardly any large container vessels that can ply the shallow silt filled river stream directly from the ocean into Onitsha.

The port isn't in anyway viable and will be a money sink to operate and import goods through.

criuze:
Why did they stop it in the first place

It only worked during colonial era when Nigeria's economy was largely dependent on agricultural exports.

The port in Onistha was designed mostly to transport agriculture products from the middle belt that were grown along the Benue-Niger trough basin. It had a secondary role in transporting finished goods from Europe imported via Warri port with the use of barges up river. Those barges will then ship agro products from across the middlebelt as far as Niger to the west and Taraba to the east using the river streams of river Niger and Benue respectively. Onistha was just a way point to sort and move those goods further south to either Onne or Warri ports for forwarding onboard deep blue ocean vessels as exports.

This waypoint status is how Onitsha became a trading centre and it had nothing to do with Ibo ingenuity as touted today. Onitsha port serviced the movement of goods between central Nigeria and Europe .

okeysoninv:
I thought they said IGR is not important in igbo land

I was expecting dis as usual....Ibadan news outlet doesn't disappoint

saintkel:
I was expecting dis as usual....Ibadan news outlet doesn't disappoint

shut up, no state can survive without IGR. Beside I'm an igbo.

It like Soludo be the dullest professor ever!

Was it not Dubai or Shanghai he promised Ndi Anambra?

Right now we would be lucky if he could deliver Kano or Enugu

We quickly discovered that his greatest strength and talent lies in carrying microphone and making empty promises upandan

I'm tired of this Onitsha port

Anyone who is serious about port in Igbo land won't even think of Onitsha

There are 3 better sites before Onitsha can be considered

Azumini in Abia is the best location for port
Afikpo is better situated than Onitsha
Then you have IMO state along the orashi river

Onitsha is too far and no clear part

If am Anambra government I would work with Delta government to extend the road to warri port then then it from Agbo to Onitsha... If
Possible buy a stake in warri port

mrvitalis:
I'm

If am Anambra government I would work with Delta government to extend the road to warri port then then it from Agbo to Onitsha... If
Possible buy a stake in warri port

Keep off my Delta state .

Tomorrow you idiots will say you developed Delta South and Warri.

AntiZikist:


It only worked during colonial era when Nigeria's economy was largely dependent on agricultural exports.

The port in Onistha was designed mostly to transport agriculture products from the middle belt that were grown along the Benue-Niger trough basin. It had a secondary role in transporting finished goods from Europe imported via Warri port with the use of barges up river. Those barges will then ship agro products from across the middlebelt as far as Niger to the west and Taraba to the east using the river streams of river Niger and Benue respectively. Onistha was just a way point to sort and move those goods further south to either Onne or Warri ports for forwarding onboard deep blue ocean vessels as exports.

This waypoint status is how Onitsha became a trading centre and it had nothing to do with Ibo ingenuity as touted today. Onitsha port serviced the movement of goods between central Nigeria and Europe .

Thought I met smaller vessels there during my childhood

And the facility there ( views from bridge top ) didn't show a sign of colonial era

Why has it been abandoned despite the super advantage of the site