At a time stakeholders and the business community within the South-South and South Eastern part of the country are clamouring for the re-invention of the ports within the region for a more accelerated business transactions with its multiplier effect on socio-economic prosperity in the region, the story emanating from the only viable port in the area, the Onne port in Rivers State leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
On Wednesday, September 4, 2024, the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi declared a state of emergency on Onne Port. He said the measure became necessary because the port has become a channel through which criminal elements in the international supply chain use to commit atrocities bordering on national security breaches.
The CG buttressed his argument with the quantum of seizures made recently by the customs on contraband imported through the port valued at several billions of naira.
One of such seizures was a huge cache of arms and ammunition shipped from Turkey which left stakeholders and patriotic citizens shell shocked.
According to the Comptroller General, the declaration of a state of emergency on the port is not singularly a customs issue, but a national security concern that affects every Nigerian.
He thus made a clarion call on all patriotic citizens to assist the customs to nip such occurrences in the bud.
“We need your help in providing intelligence regarding those behind these nefarious acts and their intentions. Your information, no matter how small, could be the key to preventing a potential catastrophe.
“Therefore effective immediately, we are implementing emergency protocols at Onne Port. For the next three months, we will be conducting thorough examination of all suspected containers. If the owners do not come forward for examination, we will open these containers to verify their contents. This is a temporary but necessary measure to clean up the port and restore its integrity”, the CG stated.
The latest development at the port has thrown up some theories and conjectures among stakeholders and concerned citizens as they try to arrive at the raison d’être for the government action on the port.
There has been the belief that government policies as it concerns the nation’s ports tilt towards giving a prime place to the ports in Lagos, that is Apapa and Tin Can ports even to the detriment of other ports in the other parts of the country.
That is why in some cases while the ports in Lagos are experiencing congestion, the ports in the other regions, particularly Onne would be experiencing very poor traffic and attendant low volume of trade. The clamour among stakeholders over the years to redress the anomaly has continued to fall on deaf ears.
A strange dimension was even added to the conspiracy theory against the ports outside Lagos during the build up to the 2023 presidential election. The handlers of Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC had come up with the blackmail that if Peter Obi of the Labour party wins the election, he would take the shine off Lagos through policies which would see him develop the ports in the East as contained in his elaborate manifesto and economic blueprint.
This they argued would inevitably pull so many businesses out of Lagos especially marine related businesses where people from the Eastern part of the country majorly hold forte.
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This was one of the strongest alibi they put forward in trying to convince Lagosians to cast their vote for Bola Tinubu whom they said would jealously guard and protect the prime position of Lagos in commerce and industry.
Some analysts believe that the conspiracy theory may still be at work to ‘kill’ off the only viable port in the East by any means possible by sponsoring or engaging in acts that would portray the port as a security risk and a destination for desperate criminal elements.
With that labeling, the government would be forced to further scale down the volume of traffic at the port or even abandon it or pay very scant attention no matter what it would cost it to do so.
“My brother we are in very unusual times with this Tinubu government. Anything is just possible. One may ask, why Onne of all the ports. Have you ever heard in the history of this country that a state of emergency was declared in any of the ports in Lagos?
“The other time we were told that the huge cache of arms and ammunition was shipped from Turkey. By who? By liaising with the Turkish authorities, it would be possible to unmask those behind that huge arms importation. But have we heard anything again? This port is being targeted. Take it from me and with it certain (ethnic) group is a prime target to further cripple them economically”.
“There is a port in Port Harcourt, there is a port in Warri, Calabar, Koko, and even another one was being developed in Onitsha. But this Onne is the only one working within this region, and not even at full capacity. Now it may soon get a k-leg!”
The foregoing was a reaction from a deeply worried source who preferred to remain anonymous as he tried to analyze recent happenings at the Onne port.
Interestingly, many maritime players and importers contacted for their perspective on the declaration of state of emergency at the port declined comments.
So as emergency protocols hold sway at Onne, how would businesses fare? The customs CG assured that “lawful shipments would be processed as quickly and efficiently as possible during this period”.
We live to see.
