Use Onne Seaport Because Charity Begins At Home

 

By Macsantos onyekachi Onumajuru (Abia Writers)

Edited by Nkechi Onuoha

For decades, Biafran importers and exporters have been pleading with the Nigerian government to re-vitalize the neglected seaports in the eastern zone. Restoring these seaports has been one of the major campaigns the IPOB leader is championing. The frantic campaign by IPOB and its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has forced the Nigerian government to pay some attention to the Onne seaport, enabling Biafran importers and exporters to bring goods down to Biafran land.

         

          

Our businessmen and women must use the Onne seaport more than Lagos because;

    

First, the series of legal and illegal taxes and levies both Nigeria and Lagos State governments heap on Biafran importers and exporters to clear just one container is mind-blowing. Before most of them rally around to make up money to clear their goods, the demurrage will skyrocket. The one that breaks my heart is that the price to clear goods is never steady because the more the day approaches, the more the price increases, indirectly forcing the importers to hike the price of their goods.

 

Secondly, the way
Biafrans patronize Lagos seaports affects the Biafran economy. Their financial contributions help strengthen and build Lagos's economy, creates jobs for Yoruba citizens, and indirectly forces unemployed Biafran youths to relocate to Lagos to do leftover jobs or sublet jobs. Job opportunities are more in Lagos than in Biafra land, all thanks to Biafra importers and exporters. After maximum contribution to Lagos State, what our importers and exporters get in return are extortion, humiliation, and destruction of Igbo properties, irrespective of the fact that Biafrans helped to develop their respective states.

 

Thirdly, our Biafran importers spend recklessly on the road from Lagos to Biafra land. After following the legal process to clear goods plus illegal taxes imposed on Biafrans, Nigerian customs, police, army, Navy, air force and hoodlums not only extort them but sometimes seize the goods and request ransom. In addition, hoodlums attack the container, vandalize the goods at gunpoint and make away with some goods and valuables.

 

All these horrors are what our importers experience when bringing goods down to Biafra land. After you calculate your business losses, you find out that it is profitable to use Onne seaport because (i) it is economical, (ii) it is closer, (III) there are no multiple security checkpoints on the road, and (iv) the rate of illegal taxes will be minimal, unlike Lagos.

 

The numerous benefits include providing job opportunities and attracting development, reducing the price of commodities, and accelerating our economy with the speed of sound. Finally, the goods will arrive safely at their destination. The biggest benefit is that the Onne seaport will force our people to invest massively in Biafra land. 

Charity begins at home, and there is no place like home.

In Biafra, we stand.