Nonsochukwu Uwa, Owerri; Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
There have been mixed reactions over the proposed dredging of Orashi River by Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State.
Since the Governor who is a strong ally of President Muhammadu Buhari disclosed the intention of the Federal Government to dredge the river down to the Atlantic ocean, Imolites are divided in their opinions about the real motive behind the gigantic project which is not captured in the 2022 budget.
It will be a miracle for such a capital-intensive project not captured in the budget to be executed in a country where even projects well captured in the budget are rarely executed.
Some believe it is one of the desperate attempts by the All Progressives Congress, APC, governor to shore up his dwindling popularity ahead of the 2023 polls.
Yet, others believe he may be real just as he appears to be making some imprints in Infrastructural development.
Uzodinma’s rating in virtually other sectors especially security is too uninspiring but he seems to have made appreciable efforts in infrastructural development particularly roads.
Some still do not believe he has done anything to suggest he genuinely wants to write his name in gold in the infrastructural development space when juxtaposed with the infrastructural revolution going on in states like Ebonyi and even Enugu.
His sudden announcement of the Orashi River dredging project is being differently interpreted in different quarters.
The arrest of Gov. Uzodinma in 2018 (then a governorship candidate) by the Chief Okoi Obono-obla -led Special Presidential Investigation Panel For Recovery of Public Property, over the failure of his company to execute $12 million dredging contract, has cast doubts to the sincerity of the new project.
The panel had then quizzed Uzodinma for not executing the dredging of Calabar Seaport awarded to his company despite collecting s whopping $12 million.
According to the panel the arrest of Uzodimma came after he ignored several invitation by the panel to come and answer the allegations before him.
The panel in a statement back then had said: “At 8.20 pm operatives of the Special Presidential Investigation Panel For Recovery of Public Property at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport arrested the APC governorship candidate in Imo State, Hope Uzodimma while returning from an Air Peace P47324 flight from Lagos.
“The panel is investigating economic sabotage against Senator Uzodimma arising out of the failure of his company to execute a contract of $12 million for the dredging of Calabar channel awarded by NPA. He has been evading all invitations of the Panel over one year.”
It is still unclear if the panel has given him a clean bill of health or decided to sweep the matter under the carpet after all, he is also of the ruling party.
But Nigerians who keep records of events appear skeptical over the proposed dredging of Orashi River for obvious reasons.
Indeed, a respondent told Ikengaonline rather cynically that “a man who could not dredge the Calabar Port after allegedly collecting $12 million is now saying he is going to dredge Orashi river. Who will believe this cock and bull story?”
In any case, some of the questions begging for an answer include: Could the proposal be a ploy to award another multi-million dollar contract that would never be executed to somebody’s company? Can a man under probe for alleged failure to execute a contract, morally supervise the award of similar project? What is the final outcome of Uzodinma’s Calabar Seaport contract saga?
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has denied any proposal to dredge Orashi River contrary to claims by Uzodinma.
Minister of Transportation, Muazu Sambo, who spoke at the just-concluded World Maritime Day celebration in Lagos, said “neither the Ministry nor the Presidency is aware of such a port.”
“The Federal Government is not aware of the Port, the Ministry is also not aware of such a port. I am yet to get in touch with the Imo State Governor. As far as we are concerned, the Orashi River Port is not known to the government.”
The position of the Federal Government has further cast doubts on the veracity of Uzodinma’s claims which many simply see as one of such political gimmicks.
However, Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, had clarified that the Orashi River project had nothing to do with a seaport but only dredging of the river to Atlantic ocean.
Uzodimma stated this in Owerri, through his State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, while reacting to a media report which stated that the presidency was not aware of a construction of a seaport in Imo.
According to him, “Governor Hope Uzodimma never talked about sea port at Oguta or Orashi, but harped on the economic benefits of dredging the river up to the Atlantic ocean.”
He added that the governor could not have talked of a seaport in Imo State when there is no sea in the state, adding that what the governor was emphasising was having access to the sea through the dredging of existing waterways.
“The enormous natural endowment in this area is yet to be tapped. Our first line of action will be to create access road that will enable security agents to patrol the channel up to the sea; the access will help stimulate commercial activities and halt crude oil theft and vandalizing of oil installations.”
“It is regrettable that the opposition and some biased maritime reporters had stoked the fire of controversy to take the shine off the huge vision behind the project. This was not the first time that attempt was being made to dredge the Orashi River to join the Atlantic ocean.
“Even during the colonial time, ships were moving from the Atlantic Ocean and Port Harcourt to use a motor, a river port in the bank of Oguta Lake in Oguta Local Government Area of the state.”
He also debunked “the insinuations by the PDP that the Federal Government cannot collaborate with the Imo State Government to set up a port in the state.”
Some residents who spoke to Ikengaonline about their feelings regarding the purported seaport project announcement by Uzodimma last Saturday expressed doubts over the sincerity of the Governor.
While some agreed on the economic importance of the project to the South-East zone, others dismissed it on the basis that the project would not be executed and that it was a plot to gain an advantage ahead of the 2023 general election.
Elder statesman and a chieftain of the Peoples Party, PDP, Chief Peter Mgenwelu was of the view that “If we do not dredge the Orashi river, South-East will remain in poverty.”
Continuing, he said: “My prayer since I heard Uzodimma mentioned this is: Please God let him achieve it. if he achieves it, our children will be happier, they will have more jobs, and they will be able to achieve other things.”
A human rights activist and social crusader, Bob Njemanze, said: “I don’t think we are giving the Governor enough moral support. I think because the Government is paying more attention to action and action, that are not portraying words, fall under the expectation of the people. Everything the governor has done lately to make one feel he’s not sleeping; in terms of public opinion and perception he is swimming against the tide.
“So, he needs honest and objective people to bring to the fore all the efforts he is making and in that regard, he needs the press so much. One of the greatest achievements of this Government is bringing the Federal Government to succeed in whichever way or manner that this landlocked state of ours will be released from this detention and that is the seaport project and it is commendable.”
President of Imo State Amalgamated Marketers and Traders Association, ISAMATA, Emmanuel Ezeanochie, said: “It is a very wonderful project. In the entire South-East region, there is no seaport. We are landlocked.
“As people known for commercial activities, it will be of great importance to us. We need the seaport to bring our business and goods to our state. This project will open up business for the people of the South-East zone. So we owe the Imo State governor Hope Uzodimma a lot.”
However, the President of the Igbo National Council, INC, Chilos Godsent, is skeptical about the project.
He said: “It is a laudable project but we are sceptical. It may be a political gimmick to please the South-East people to vote the ruling APC back to power in 2023.”
Meanwhile, time shall tell if the announcement by Uzodinma is one of such political hyperbole or if his name will be captured in history as one of those that attracted one of the dearest projects for the economic emancipation of the South-East.
One of the oldest seaports in Nigeria is Azummini Blue River in Ukwa East Local Government Area of Abia State but since after the Nigeria/Biafra war, it was abandoned.
The Federal Government, immediately after the 30-month bloody war, abandoned Azummini seaport and development that Onne Port Harcourt Seaport.
History has it that Azummini Blue River served as the seaport from where the Colonial Masters ferried slaves from Igboland to overseas during the better-forgotten slave trade era.
Despite the incontrovertible fact that Azummini Blue River has shorter nautical miles to the Atlantic ocean than even the Lagos seaport, the Federal Government has totally abandoned the foremost seaport in the South-East.
Some believe that the abandonment of the seaport was one of the punishments meted to Ndigbo for the civil war.
Promises and attempts to dredge any River in the South-East, including River Niger have remained political rhetoric and many unfulfilled promises.
Whatever is the fear of the Government at the centre from siting or developing a functional Seaport in the South-East or even South-South to decongest the over-congested Apapa Port in Lagos, can only be explained by those holding such unnecessary fears.
