Inconsistency and lack of political will to drive new infrastructural development or sustain existing ones are major challenges confronting the needed growth and diversification of the Nigerian economy. It is not the easy excuse of scarce resources, but the prioritisation of available resources and channelling them to economically viable projects like Baro Inland Port in Agaie Local Government Area of Niger State.

The N6 billion River Port which was inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari in January 2019 with a promise to expedite action on its completion, is fast losing its prospects and becoming a shadow of it like many abandoned projects littered across the country.

Like the then notorious criminal, Monday Osunbor who was caught and executed by the Babangida administration said in an interview with Newswatch magazine before his eventual execution in 1989, “E be like say I wan mental,” each time I recall that Baro Port is still not completed two years after its commissioning. To me, it is like a nasty decimal. The feeling of grief grips me anytime I tour round the Baro port project in Niger State with its potential economic benefits that need to be urgently harnessed to ramp up revenue for the country.

It should be instructive for the federal government to note that apart from the fact that the massive economic benefits of the project are now under threat by the delayed completion of the project, the huge unemployed workforce which the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently put at 27.1 million and thousands of deprived youths who keep hoping that our leaders would rescue the state from the abyss towards which it is currently facing and put the economy on a growth trajectory, feel like Osunbor daily.

The port boasts of a quay length of 150 metres; cargo stacking yard of 7,000 square metres. It also has a transit shed of 3, 600 square metres and an estimated capacity of 5,000 TEU at a time.

The Baro Port is equipped with facilities such as water hydrant system, water treatment plant, and three forklifts of various tonnages. It is powered by a 100 KVA generating set. The port is expected to provide over 2,000 direct and 2,500 indirect jobs.

President Buhari had, during the inauguration of the port, expressed deep personal attachment to the project, giving hope that the project was going to be up for operation in a matter of weeks. But about 19 months since its commissioning, the project is yet to be completed for operation. The facility has been lying dormant since its commissioning. To the best of my knowledge, no single cargo has been lifted neither has any vessel berthed since the ceremony unveiling it for business activities in January of 2019.

It is taking too long especially in the overall quest for the diversification of the economy. There is every need to revive the Baro Port and bring it to function, especially at this critical time when the nation is facing a drop in revenue.

We must collectively not lose focus of the fact that the project was designed to enhance intermodal transportation connectivity in Nigeria. It is also built to reduce the pressure of big trucks on the country’s roads. When completed, it will create huge economic opportunities for Nigerians and help in decongesting similar ports. Unfortunately, the recent headlines of the reports on the celebrated Baro Inland Port suggest the nightmare of having a port that can open up the entire northern region to economic progress will still linger (at least) unending.

Although government had attributed the delayed take-off of the port to the non-completion of the major access roads to the multi-million naira inland port, I still find it difficult to believe that a project with the capacity of creating a huge number of direct and indirect jobs is not prioritised to help achieve the federal government’s 100 million jobs project.