By Praise Chinecherem
A former banker, Chief Eusebius Onyemelukwe has advised Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State 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.
Onyemelukwe from Igboukwu made the call while speaking to newsmen on state of the economy of the 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.
โOperationalizing the Onitsha port will be an additional source of income for the state.
โI 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.
โThe 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.
โโThat 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,โ he said.
Onyemelukwe, who is also passionate 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.
โI 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; โThis project if executed, will give a leap to the economic growth and commercialization of Nnewi City to world standard.โ
The financial expert also called on the state government to consider supporting private investors to develop a Modular Refinery at Aguleri in Anambra East Council Area of the state.
“This move will help reduce scarcity of petroleum products in the state, while contributing to the growth of the economy of the state,” he added.
