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The Igbo Community Association (ICA), the preeminent socio-cultural entity representing the Igbo populace within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has commended Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, for his unwavering and astute leadership in securing the legislative foundation for the South East Development Commission (SEDC)—a milestone hailed as a transformative achievement for the region.
In recognizing this landmark parliamentary success, the association has called upon the Deputy Speaker to press forward with equal resolve, advocating for the long-delayed creation of a seaport in the South East—an infrastructural imperative persistently withheld from a region whose substantial economic contributions to Nigeria stand in stark contrast to its deprivation.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, and endorsed by its President General, Engr. Ikenna Ellis-Ezenekwe, the ICA condemned the protracted absence of an operational seaport in the South East, characterizing it as a persistent economic inequity that has curtailed commercial expansion, escalated operational expenses, and imposed severe burdens on countless diligent traders and industrialists.
The group further decried the region’s exclusion from Nigeria’s maritime framework as a calculated omission, asserting that this systemic neglect has imposed an undue economic chokehold on Igbo entrepreneurs, compelling them to navigate the overburdened and often predatory environment of Lagos ports.
The ICA underscored the anomaly that the South East, despite its status as one of Nigeria’s most dynamic commercial hubs, remains devoid of a single functioning seaport, while other geopolitical zones benefit from an abundance of such facilities—a disparity that amplifies the urgency of their appeal.
It recalled that Nigeria currently has six officially recognized seaports under the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), including the Lagos Port Complex (Apapa), Tin Can Island Port, Rivers Port Complex, Onne Port Complex, Delta Port Complex, and Calabar Port.
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However, the ICA emphasized that only two of these ports – both located in Lagos – are fully operational, thereby exacerbating logistical challenges for South East importers who must endure exploitative levies, excessive delays, and multiple extortions while transporting goods from Lagos to the region.
The Igbo Community Association (ICA) asserted that the prevailing economic disparity afflicting the South East is neither a matter of chance nor defensible, but rather a deliberate stratagem designed to obstruct the region’s fiscal progress—a grave accusation leveled with unwavering conviction.
Engr. Ikenna Ellis-Ezenekwe, President of the ICA, issued an urgent summons for the resuscitation and swift advancement of dormant proposals for two pivotal seaports in the South East—the Obeaku Ndoki Port in Abia State and the Oseakwa Seaport in Anambra State—projects deemed essential to redress decades of infrastructural neglect.
He portrayed the envisioned Oseakwa Port, positioned along the Oseakwa River within Ihiala Local Government Area, as an undertaking of profound economic consequence, poised to recalibrate the region’s commercial trajectory.
Ezenekwe evoked its historical prominence as a bustling colonial maritime conduit that once expedited the export of commodities, emphasizing that this prospective port—located some 285 kilometers from the Atlantic seaboard—holds transformative potential to invigorate trade, alleviate the strain on Lagos’s overburdened docks, diminish logistical expenses, and catalyze industrial growth throughout the South East.
