Need for Inland Container-Terminal in Onitsha -By Princess Stella Oduah

Princess Stella Oduah, Senator representing Anambra North Senator District

A casual knowledge of Onitsha city undoubtedly brings to light an already known reality. It is really a given, that the city remains the biggest commercial hub in the Eastern Region. The age-long record of Onitsha playing host to the largest single market in Sub-Saharan Africa still stands to be broken.

Indeed, the natural position of the commercial centre in Anambra had attracted and continues to draw business-minded individuals to itself from far and near.

Of all three major cities in the State (Anambra) – Awka, Nnewi and Onitsha, the latter had been in the lead in terms of commerce and housing.

Be that as it may, after a close examination on the reality on ground, only the blind will say we have hit the highest point. Time and again, the defined area covering the popular Main-market has continued to undergo some necessary expansion to accommodate more commercial enterprises. Modern malls and plazas are being erected; uncompleted decks of stores and shops progressively completed, thereby adding to the overall capacity of the market. A welcome development it is. Obviously, such development has become quite obtainable in other major markets in and around the ancient city.

A drive through the heart of the town, reveals the daring and ambitious nature of the traders who have achieved this tremendous growth in the different markets. This growth should not be seen as unprecedented, given the positive attitudes and potentials manifest in dogged efforts to meet up with the demands of survival and development. It is indeed readily supported by steady growing activities at these commercial centres.

Thus, the relevance of Onitsha as a highly-positioned business hub can only thrive progressively, not otherwise. The dutiful input of the people is always a greater advantage in making the city, as a commercial area, an envious one.

Willing investors from various parts of Anambra and beyond have been drawn to the attractive business environment which boasts of a good number of strong markets. Certainly, the growing addition to the commercial and enterprise capacities of Onitsha city is a welcome development. However, setting a perfect underlying background to it, remains even more relevant and indispensable for better results.

Despite these enticing prospects, the glaring fact which still poses great challenge to the fast-growing economic might of the area, is the absence of an inland container-terminal. As it were, Onitsha, which commands a fantastic commercial respect in the Southeast zone and beyond, is unfavourably handicapped by the lack of seaports, limiting the much needed freer and easier access to the international market, unlike in Lagos and Port-harcourt which enjoy the great prerogative conferred by nature.

This environmental disadvantage owes largely to the landlocked nature of the ancient eastern town.

Commercial activities in Onitsha, are replete with promising prospects for national growth, but over the years they have been hampered by the lack of direct access to foreign industries. Hitherto, importation activities, relatively championed by individuals from the area, have been adversely affected by compulsive reliance on far-away Southern ports especially Lagos. This old trend, which presents us with more disadvantages than otherwise, has continued to shrink the limits of commercial growth for regional markets surrounding the sensitive area.

It represents a dire bad factor against widening the market capacities that would accommodate stiffened prospects which have long been suppressed by the ugly status-quo.

Furthermore, the risky hazards that have accompanied this socio-economic privation include [but not limited to]: transport accidents, unnecessary additional costs and anxiety attached to distance-related transactions, hijacking of goods, theft, robbery, etc.

In moving forward, therefore, the Federal Government, through the instrumentality of the Customs Service, should consider, as a national priority, making provisions for ultra-modern inland container-terminal in the commercial city of Onitsha. Indeed, the economic advantages it stands to avail the country cannot be overemphasized.

For one, the hazards above which affects the security of lives and property (being part of government’s basic duty to its citizens) would be significantly minimized. In line with international best practices, governments and stakeholders in other commercial climes promptly move on to improvise viable means for economic and industrial growths for such environmental challenges as this especially when the affected areas are so sensitive to the society at large.

Considering the sensitivity of the southeast region in Nigeria, it is imperative that the ‘rampart’ that had isolated its market force from direct link with the global market be pulled down. Achieving this project, undoubtedly, would tremendously loosen the harsh bonds that have, thus far, limited its ability to accommodate more opportunities, thereby displacing the odds and encourage positivity in the sector.

Given the incredible presence of major markets around the town, coupled with a remarkable increase in the number of importers in those markets, acting judiciously on such an important initiative would appreciably help to decongest already filled-up areas in the market places. Making a case-study with the largely populated Main-market, specifically at the Lagos Line wing of the market [where already-made cloths are sold in quantities], indescribable metric-tons worth of goods are offloaded every first day of business week; this is taken out of the scores of other wings that make up the market who record same, more or less, at their different lines. The same applies to other commercial hubs which include:Osemarket, Bridge-Head Drug Dealers Market, Electro-mart market, Electrical market (Oba), Old Spare-Parts market(Ugwuagba), Relief market (Onitsha), Ochanja market, Old Motor Spare-parts (Nkpor), New Motor Spare parts markets,Relief market (Nkpor), Ogidi Bakery market,OgidiInternational Building-Materials market among others.

It behooves me, therefore, to appeal to the Nigerian economic interests, duly represented by the Government and meaningful stakeholder, on the necessary need to accommodate this ever-growing spirit of market and business expansion in the Onitsha metropolis. The need to consider this recommendation is simply vital especially at a time when ambitious individuals who have made a mark in other sectors still have the reserved interests to invest in commerce, which should be greeted with a positive welcome.

Thus, the system seems to have been over-strained by constantly over-burdening it without provision for corresponding incentives.
The value-laden benefits to be realized in carving out a well-structured inland container-terminal that would cater for all these commercial sites in general cannot be overemphasized.

The benefits go beyond Onitsha. It’s a South East project and a Nigerian one as a whole. The region is land lock zone that services Sub-Saharan Africa. Accomplishment of this magnitude will unbundle these lost potentials and grant Nigeria greater access to the global market. The ripple effect will be among others, economic promption of industrial revolution and rural economic growth. Cottage and small scale industries will emerge, and economic dominance within the Sub-Sahara region will be actualized.

Economically, this would provide an avenue for huge revenue resources that accrue to the government’s purse periodically, an outcome that is capable of adding to its financial commitments in meeting up with the infrastructural needs of the people.

Needless to say, considering such a nice project by the appropriate authorities would go a long way in attracting more investors from other sectors to invest in commerce, a development which certainly would enrich and boost the economy of the commercial city and by maximal extension, Nigeria at large. Thus, diversified economic possibilities are guaranteed in the long-run.

To say the least, having such an enabling structure on ground would as well give room for job opportunities especially for the physically-advantaged males,thereby discouraging the tendency to apply such natural endowments negatively at the detriment of innocent people.

The long-term value as engendered by all these attractive benefits would be dramatically far-reaching in terms of expanding the limits of the economy and providing employment opportunities for the unemployed, but as well in being a formidable model for other states and country, hence,upgrading the socio-economic pride of the city and Nigeria on the global stage.

Senator Stella Oduah is the Senator representing Anambra North Senator District and Vice Chairman Senate Committee on Women Affairs.