Give Igbo Land or The East A Seaport And See Lagos Turn Into A Graveyard
Some Yoruba people have bragged about Igbo people being in Lagos, but they never knew that had it the Yoruba had not monopolised the seaport in Nigeria, no Igbo man would be in Lagos as Lagos would have turned into a graveyard.
Nigeria is a country where more than 200 million people make use of the Lagos seaport when it can be distributed among regions. There are seas with proximity to the ocean in Bayelsa, Calabar, Akwa Ibom, Warri, Anambra, Abia, and Imo, yet the Nigerian government has denied the East seaport.
Ndi Igbo being in Lagos is a plus to the Yoruba people. These Igbo people were denied seaports and forced to be in Lagos. As the highest importers in Nigeria, Ndị́ Igbo were forced to travel miles away from their homes to clear their goods. Many had lost these goods to bad federal roads in the East while bringing them down to Ịgbo land. Instead of losing goods all the time, they decided to lock up their shops in Onitsha and relocate to Lagos. Since then they are not only contributing to the IGR of Lagos, they are also developing Lagos.
Imagine a situation where Anambra or Warri, or even Abia or Akwa Ibom, have a working Seaport. Do you think our people will be trooping into Lagos? They will stay in their land and develop it.
If you take away the monopoly of seaports from Lagos, Lagos will lose its taste. That’s because Igbo people will head home and replicate what you see in Lagos back home.
As an Igbo man, you must stop feeling that Yoruba people are doing you a favour because you are in Lagos. It is the other way around. You are the one doing them a favour. They connived with the Fulani to have the seaports to themselves.
When you say this they say don’t you have seaport in Warri and Calabar. Funny people. This is how they do it. They will make sure you pay more if you decide to use Calabar or Warri seaports. They will also use their men in charge of those places to frustrate your goods. By the time your goods spend 6 months without clearing it, you will learn to use Lagos seaport. If you are from Warri or Calabar and you claim you have a seaport, then you are a clọ́wn.
Elochukwu Ohagi, Philosopher, Teacher and Activist, 2024.
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