The Chairman, Bayelsa and Rivers
Shippers Association, Mr Offon Udofia,
on Monday commended President
Goodluck Jonathan for inaugurating the
River Niger Port in Anambra.
Udofia, who made this known in Port
Harcourt, said the president was a
development oriented leader. He scored
the president high in the area of
infrastructure development and called on
Nigerians to support him to actualise his
transformation agenda.

‘’In spite of Boko Haram insurgency and
other distractions, the president is still
making progress in the total
transformation of Nigeria.
‘’From my opinion, he is a man of vision
with better programmes for the country,
which needs the support of all Nigerians.

‘’Success in administration is not a one
way thing, it requires the collective effort
of everybody in the country,’’ he said.
He described the president as a great
achiever, having commissioned the port
which had been long overdue and of
immense benefit to Nigerians.

‘’The port would now reduce accidents
along Onitsha/Lagos road, being caused
by trailers conveying goods from Lagos
ports to Onitsha.

‘’Decongestion of traffic is another
advantage, with the Niger port in
operation, Lagos/Onitsha road would be
less busy with heavy duty trucks,’’ he
said.(NAN)

www.vanguardngr.com/2012/09/onitsha-port-shippers-association-commends-jonathan/

Until I see pictures of ship berthing, loading, and offloading cargos, it is not yet uhuru!

the chairman is not even igbo.

asha 80: the chairman is not even igbo.

Does he need to be?

asha 80: the chairman is not even igbo.

If 'Udofia' is not Igbo enough, I wonder who is. Then too it doesn't matter, what matter now is putting the port to use.

onlytruth and point b what i was trying to point out is that the port was not only beneficial to the igbo person against what the popular belief is but to the generality of trade in the east.

Bunch of BS. Let the dang thing start opporating and ships start sailing. Funny dude.

fixed.

PointB:

If 'Udofia' is not Igbo enough, I wonder who is. Then too it does matter, what matter now is putting the port to use.

some people from akwa cross axis answer that name as i have come across some of them.from the first name it is obvious that he is from that axis.

asha 80: onlytruth and point b what i was trying to point out is that the port was not only beneficial to the igbo person against what the popular belief is but to the generality of trade in the east.

Copy that my brother.

asha 80:

some people from akwa cross axis answer that name as i have come across some of them.from the first name it is obvious that he is from that axis.

I see. Nice to know that someone potentially from Akwa Ibom chairs shippers association in that axis. Good one.

When I saw the port thing, I knew giant strides are still been made. GEJ is vigorously pursuing this transformation agenda,critics will blab and talk, but we are seeing the lot at the end of the tunnel and whether hey like it or not transformation must be our portion.

Chyz*:
Bunch of BS. Let the dang thing start opporating and ships start sailing. Funny dude.

That is left for importers from the East and neighbouring regions.

Inspite of the sponsored terrorism and insurgency, Jonathan is forging ahead successfully.
In transportation, he is working towards reviving our railway system. So many railway projects are ongoing including the award of phase II of Lagos-Kano to CCCEC.

The minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, led a reforms task force that sanitized the ports. First, they sacked all sorts of law enforcement agents that besieged the ports and thereby eased operations at the ports. Facilities were upgraded and steps initiated for 24 hrs operations in line with global best practices.

Last week, Jonathan has commissioned another port in Onitsha scoring another milestone in transportation.

cant wait cuz i need to start using that port ASAP

PointB: Until I see pictures of ship berthing, loading, and offloading cargos, it is not yet uhuru!

^^^Spot on! All this na just flenty turenchi, until i see the port pulsating with activity.

PROUD-IGBO:


^^^Spot on! All this na just flenty turenchi, until i see the port pulsating with activity.

See this is my problem with NLanders. Are there no NLander in that axis that can go and find out if operations have started and take PICS for us? We only spend time in trading banters and debating silly topics like "Igbo Leaders Endorsing GEJ for 2015", "Igbo vs Yoruba online battles", "Dame Patience Flown Abroad or not" instead of Focusing on REAL issues.

Anyways this is an article I saw days after GEJ commissioned the port:

Following its formal commissioning by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Thursday, the multi-billion Onitsha River Port Complex, Anambra State has begun operations.

Various cargo handling equipment were seen in operations as the euphoria that heralded the formal commissioning of the Onitsha River Port Complex ebbed with the departure of guests to the venues of other projects earmarked for commissioning by President Jonathan.

The formal unveiling of the Onitsha River Port Complex, which is located in the commercial nerve centre of the Eastern part of the country, followed its complete rehabilitation by the Federal Government.

While performing the cutting of tape ceremony, President Jonathan said the N4.6 billion River Port was unique and a signal for more things to come.

He added that his administration decided to embark on the development of the country's inland waterways transport as a way of exploiting all avenues of enhancing both road, rail, air and water transportation in the country.

His words: "The river or marine transport must be enhanced and to do it, we need inland port like the one in Onitsha. Our target is to link all the ports by roads and rail so that doing business in Nigeria becomes easy. The river ports must be linked up to other areas of resource. Today, the process is being started and others on the drawing board must be completed", he said.

The President expressed the hope that a well-developed inland water transportation system will lessen the burden on our highways, which often wear away because of the large cargo plying the roads......

http://allafrica.com/stories/201209020342.html

Pls let no one be deceived, this Onitsha port is not worth 4.6 Billion Naira. I was too excited when i read about this port on the internet, but just few days ago I passed through the river Niger on my way to Asaba and i cant believe this small warehouse is the so called port? Why cant they give us a port as big as the one in Lagos? This is a warehouse to me and not a port, the place is just too small. I took pics of the so called sea port from river niger but am too ashamed to post it here.

Last night i received someone at Port Harcourt International airport and I cant believe the kind of quack job they are doing there in the name of airport modernization? When are we going to have a world class airport and sea port in south east/south south? I mean the federal government makes billions of dollars from this region every month?

All in all, i think the Onitsha port is a good project, but it is too small, I DO NOT THINK INTERNATIONAL SHIPS WILL BERT IN ONITSHA, I THINK OR ASSUME SMALL SHIPS FROM LAGOS WILL BE DIVERTED TO ONITSHA. I thought they are supposed to build a world class seaport for us so we can ship our goods to onitsha direct from Asia, Europe or America. I may be wrong though.

Ricky_Ross: Pls let no one be deceived, this Onitsha port is not worth 4.6 Billion Naira. I was too excited when i read about this port on the internet, but just few days ago I passed through the river Niger on my way to Asaba and i cant believe this small warehouse is the so called port? Why cant they give us a port as big as the one in Lagos? This is a warehouse to me and not a port, the place is just too small. I took pics of the so called sea port from river niger but am too ashamed to post it here.

Last night i received someone at Port Harcourt International airport and I cant believe the kind of quack job they are doing there in the name of airport modernization? When are we going to have a world class airport and sea port in south east/south south? I mean the federal government makes billions of dollars from this region every month?

All in all, i think the Onitsha port is a good project, but it is too small, I DO NOT THINK INTERNATIONAL SHIPS WILL BERT IN ONITSHA, I THINK OR ASSUME SMALL SHIPS FROM LAGOS WILL BE DIVERTED TO ONITSHA. I thought they are supposed to build a world class seaport for us so we can ship our goods to onitsha direct from Asia, Europe or America. I may be wrong though.

pls kindly post the picture of the port.

taharqa:

See this is my problem with NLanders. Are there no NLander in that axis that can go and find out if operations have started and take PICS for us? We only spend time in trading banters and debating silly topics like "Igbo Leaders Endorsing GEJ for 2015", "Igbo vs Yoruba online battles", "Dame Patience Flown Abroad or not" instead of Focusing on REAL issues.

Anyways this is an article I saw days after GEJ commissioned the port:

http://allafrica.com/stories/201209020342.html

^^^On the bolded: You and i are singing from the same hymn sheet. I'm a firm believer in less grammer and (in these days of camphones and youtube) more pics/videos to prove any point.

Ricky_Ross: Pls let no one be deceived, this Onitsha port is not worth 4.6 Billion Naira. I was too excited when i read about this port on the internet, but just few days ago I passed through the river Niger on my way to Asaba and i cant believe this small warehouse is the so called port? Why cant they give us a port as big as the one in Lagos? This is a warehouse to me and not a port, the place is just too small. I took pics of the so called sea port from river niger but am too ashamed to post it here.

Last night i received someone at Port Harcourt International airport and I cant believe the kind of quack job they are doing there in the name of airport modernization? When are we going to have a world class airport and sea port in south east/south south? I mean the federal government makes billions of dollars from this region every month?

All in all, i think the Onitsha port is a good project, but it is too small, I DO NOT THINK INTERNATIONAL SHIPS WILL BERT IN ONITSHA, I THINK OR ASSUME SMALL SHIPS FROM LAGOS WILL BE DIVERTED TO ONITSHA. I thought they are supposed to build a world class seaport for us so we can ship our goods to onitsha direct from Asia, Europe or America. I may be wrong though.

^^^Ricky_Ross nwanna, you should know by now that in this country, if you're told of the cost of a project, you should expect that (at the very least) 30% of the said amount would have gone into oiling the wheels of corruption; and this in turn would make the contractor inflate the final cost of the project to recoup his money .

4.6 billion indeed!.....i know peeps that could build that tiny warehouse, office block and gate-house for at least 600 million naira (notice that the finishing of the buildings is nothing to write home about); the bulk of the expenses would have gone on the two cranes, and that shouldn't cost more than 10 million dollars; you can add in an extra 1 billion naira as profit for the contractor (and that's me being a bit generous).

I'm excited at the fact that we are at least starting somewhere, but not excited with what i see presently on ground there.

On the issue of the airports: i feel the patch-patch work being done is pathetic and corners are being cut to save on cost, so that the little money budgeted can be thinly spread well among the geo-political zones (a'la federal character and quota). Why can't some serious money be budgeted for a grand airport for the region that lays the golden egg ?.....i'll tell you why: b'cos others will get jealous and there'll be claims GEJ is favouring his zone; everything has to be balanced well in this bloody country so nobody feels sidelined (even if there's hardly enough money for such frivolities) ....economics and fairness is a secondary issue.

PROUD-IGBO:


^^^Ricky_Ross nwanna, you should know by now that in this country, if you're told of the cost of a project, you should expect that (at the very least) 30% of the said amount would have gone into oiling the wheels of corruption; and this in turn would make the contractor inflate the final cost of the project to recoup his money .

4.6 billion indeed!.....i know peeps that could build that tiny warehouse, office block and gate-house for at least 600 million naira (notice that the finishing of the buildings is nothing to write home about); the bulk of the expenses would have gone on the two cranes, and that shouldn't cost more than 10 million dollars; you can add in an extra 1 billion naira as profit for the contractor (and that's me being a bit generous).

I'm excited at the fact that we are at least starting somewhere, but not excited with what i see presently on ground there.

On the issue of the airports: i feel the patch-patch work being done is pathetic and corners are being cut to save on cost, so that the little money budgeted can be thinly spread well among the geo-political zones (a'la federal character and quota). Why can't some serious money be budgeted for a grand airport for the region that lays the golden egg ?.....i'll tell you why: b'cos others will get jealous and there'll be claims GEJ is favouring his zone; everything has to be balanced well in this bloody country so nobody feels sidelined (even if there's hardly enough money for such frivolities) ....economics and fairness is a secondary issue.

It is not fair that you put the blame of what you consider an under-executed project on some other geo-political zone and Federal Character. Why not look inwards and see the problem for what it is, not finger pointing? Is it another zone that is responsible for an over-inflated contract in which sizeable percentage of funds was frittered away? Your estimate on the cranes are so off, which were most probably bought in China (See Alibaba.com). Cranes worth millions of dollars are usually European/Japanese/Americans, see http://www.portek.com/publications/Crane_Prices_Boom.pdf for reference. In the end, it is the duty of the stakeholders to ensure that the project meets all set expectations in quality as they would be aware of the entire project plan and they had a chance to influence it before it was completed. If the stakeholders jointly compromised and NO ONE had been screaming about it from the get go, neither you nor they can go blaming some geo-political zone thousands of kilometers away!

INFO: The govt plans to set up a Channels Management Company, in collaboration with private investor, to maintain the dredged river channels going forward as well as concessioning the Onitsha ports

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=97671:govt-to-establish-channel-management-firm-for-river-niger&catid=81:maritime-watch&Itemid=591

In my opinion this project is a waste of funds. They can as well dredge it further up to Lokoja which is close to Abuja. The EIA should show that as a region prone to errosion, dredging of an adjoining waterway shouldn't have been contemplated in the first place. The coastal states of Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross Rivers are enough to build ports that can serve the whole of Africa. They can build Dry Ports with rail lines from Sea Ports instead ...

Ricky_Ross: Pls let no one be deceived, this Onitsha port is not worth 4.6 Billion Naira. I was too excited when i read about this port on the internet, but just few days ago I passed through the river Niger on my way to Asaba and i cant believe this small warehouse is the so called port? Why cant they give us a port as big as the one in Lagos? This is a warehouse to me and not a port, the place is just too small. I took pics of the so called sea port from river niger but am too ashamed to post it here.

Last night i received someone at Port Harcourt International airport and I cant believe the kind of quack job they are doing there in the name of airport modernization? When are we going to have a world class airport and sea port in south east/south south? I mean the federal government makes billions of dollars from this region every month?

All in all, i think the Onitsha port is a good project, but it is too small, I DO NOT THINK INTERNATIONAL SHIPS WILL BERT IN ONITSHA, I THINK OR ASSUME SMALL SHIPS FROM LAGOS WILL BE DIVERTED TO ONITSHA. I thought they are supposed to build a world class seaport for us so we can ship our goods to onitsha direct from Asia, Europe or America. I may be wrong though.

I agree that the contract was likely inflated and the scale of the port is small but it doesn't need to start big. The growing economy of the East would create enough cash for the ports and it would be obvious to the managers that it needs to be expanded. Just like the Heathrow airport where there was some debate between those that said an extra runway is needed and environmentalists. And when it needs to be expanded, there would be no need to wait for the Federal government.

CyberG:

It is not fair that you put the blame of what you consider an under-executed project on some other geo-political zone and Federal Character. Why not look inwards and see the problem for what it is, not finger pointing? Is it another zone that is responsible for an over-inflated contract in which sizeable percentage of funds was frittered away? Your estimate on the cranes are so off, which were most probably bought in China (See Alibaba.com). Cranes worth millions of dollars are usually European/Japanese/Americans, see http://www.portek.com/publications/Crane_Prices_Boom.pdf for reference. In the end, it is the duty of the stakeholders to ensure that the project meets all set expectations in quality as they would be aware of the entire project plan and they had a chance to influence it before it was completed. If the stakeholders jointly compromised and NO ONE had been screaming about it from the get go, neither you nor they can go blaming some geo-political zone thousands of kilometers away!

The other zones that mooch off work done in more productive zones must take responsibility for the inefficiency of the system. And yes we can blame them for over-valued contracts, did u not read that it was federal government contract? Federal Character is why our universities are nowhere in global rankings.

geeez: In my opinion this project is a waste of funds. They can as well dredge it further up to Lokoja which is close to Abuja. The EIA should show that as a region prone to errosion, dredging of an adjoining waterway shouldn't have been contemplated in the first place. The coastal states of Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross Rivers are enough to build ports that can serve the whole of Africa. They can build Dry Ports with rail lines from Sea Ports instead ...

I think building all those ports in those states you mentioned and hoping for rail lines that would be run down would be waste of money. Since Onitsha and Nnewi does a lot of importation and exportation, it stands to reason that they should have their own ports. This port is long overdue. It would reduce the expense and risk that Onitsha traders have to face dealing with transport from other parts of Nigeria. The only suggestion you made that I consider valuable is the one on railways. I agree but they must be privately managed. Let all the Ifesinachi, Young Shall Grow, ABC and other experienced transporters be encouraged to get into this business if it would stand a chance of not being run down like all other government managed businesses. A Public-Private partnership will do but government must be the minority partner or else they would use Federal Character and quota system and other nonsense to spoil it, not to mention contract overvaluing and other government corruption.