Mazi Nnamdi Kanu comes to mind.

plaindealer:


Many of the places clamouring for seaports today including Bakassi don't have any kind of genuine need for seaports or demand needed to support multi-billion dollar investments.

1. They don't have the markets to accept, distribute, sell and turn the imported goods into cash and jobs to pay off the invested funds.

2. They don't have mega industries, factories and manufacturing plants to feed with imported raw materials or FTZs to manufacture and ship goods outwards.

3. Since they don't have significant end-users and large scale consumers of imported goods and services, they must ship whatever imports they receive to large markets and industries outside their region to places like Lagos and Ogun states and other places with wealth and disposable income to buy so where is the sense in shipping out your imports while at the same time trying to dodge shipping from the same places that you must ship your goods to make money..

4. We have enough ports in that region and elsewhere in Nigeria to sustain us, even the largest deep seaport in West Afric is under construction in Lagos. What we urgently need is a fast, safe and effective rail network system to move goods and services to every corner of Nigeria, especially the Lagos-Calabar coastal rail network to move humans, goods and services in and out of the SS and the SE and the Middle Belt all the way to the North likewise the Lagos-Kano line on the other side of the country doing the same thing across the SW all the way the North.

This is what we must do to get trailers and heavy-duty vehicles off our roads, including oil tankers.

At the moment there's no justification for seaports in many places in Nigeria.

Bros it is still a no brainer. Why can't they expand the existing Calabar port and the one at Port Harcourt. These are ports that can support the industrialisation of south east and south south and can aid easy movement of goods to the northeast and Chad. Which the government can use to make money. Why must everything come from Lagos. That Lagos-Calabar rail line at best is not a feasible project. It will be better the funds are geared towards expanding the ports in the South, and the statement that the ports in the south are for oil terminals and exportations is at best another lie. The only oil terminals in the south south is Bonny,Qua iboe and Forcados. It simple economics of scale why spend so much money on a 950km rail line across so many states when i can simply upgrade the ports there and save funds and achieve my aim of industrializing the south east and south south

plaindealer:


You are right, shipping is generally structured around industries, large markets and where demands exist, but the industries, markets and demands are not there in Bakassi and in places where there are ports in the same region, shippers are not interested and they don't care, shipping to and from Lagos is still their best and most viable options regardless of cost, it's basically a matter of personal business decision and preference that you or the government can not determine or dictate.



Again, there are many ports in the same region and so far, shippers don't care, they are not interested and they still prefer to ship their goods to and from Lagos. You can not force people or dictate to them how to run their business no matter how many ports you build, you are just wasting your money.

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People do and stay in business to make money, not to lose money and the fact that shippers and business owners still prefer to do business in Lagos and ship to and from Lagos instead from the ports in the SS means it's a prefered and sound business option, they are basically not losing any money.




To start with, you just keep making my point for me, they have a port in Calabar, they have a free trade zone in Calabar, they even have Tinapa, but how active and business worthy are these infrastructures and why is it still hard for you to still compete favorably with businesses in Ikeja, Apapa and Agbara with a port right there under your nose?

Ports don't determine anything and it doesn't matter how many ports you have in your backyard, the fact is, are the end-users interested and are they willing to structure their business and needs around such facilities, so far with the decaying ports in that region, they are not interested, Lagos is still their preferred choice no matter what sentiments or argument you throw around, you can not rub or shy away from the realities on the ground.




Based on the economics, business owners still think and believe that Lagos is still their best option and definitely not the ports lying fallow in the SS.

The congestion in Lagos is largely due to poor management and decades of neglect and lack of foresight, but the Lekki deep seaport is almost ready to make all that disappear.

You are simply just trying make a case for Lekki deep sea port but the truth is once the ports in the old easterm region are expanded and the port charges are harmonized like Lagos you will see so many shipping being diverted to the south south and south east. You arguement is at best very shallow. So many businesses relocated to Lagos because of shipping if the southern port are upgraded and expanded you will see that these businesses will move to their operational bases in the south east and decongestion of Lagos will start. Mind you 60% of shipping in Lagos ports are east bound cargo so you can see what will happen when the ports in the south south are expanded and upgraded.
I know you are a paid APC guy meant to launder government's image on social media platforms i encountered you in the last arguement on the Lagos light rail.

Good one