What I saw in the city of Aba made me believe that people of the South East has the capacity to rebuild and sustain the economy of their region if they choose to do so and entire Nigerian including Lagos and Kano will take all the pains to come down to do business with them whether the Nigerian government located a Seaport in the South East or Not.
By Njoku SaintJerry A.
Traveling to Lagos by night, I took time out to inspect the loading bay of most high rise buses (Luxury bus) plying the Aba to Lagos route. Many passenger buses were carefully rearranged to accommodate more bags and bails of goods bought in Aba and being transported back to the South West Nigeria and finally to Lagos for distribution to the over 20 million residents.
I counted over 20 high rise passenger buses packed to the brim with loads of goods made available by the Aba business owners. The buses leave this hub every night to Lagos to return the next day for another trip to Lagos
I had a personal conversation with a couple of the local traders exporting goods from Aba to the South West and I found out that about 75% are from Lagos, the rest were either going to Ijebu Ode in Ogun State or offloading their goods in Ondo State.
Secondly what amazes me most was that the goods being transported to Lagos by the cover of the night were imported into the country through the same Lagos Port and had passed through all the hurdles of military road blocks and divers security harassment that outline the terrible road condition from Lagos to the South East through Benin city and now being returned to the same Lagos by struggling traders, a double jeopardy and sheer ignorance of those empowered by law to preside over such adverse trade and environmental situations.
Later in the day, I took a tour of Aba and its heavy commercial districts, I found out, that the Lagos traders were not alone, West African traders going to Cameroon and nearby countries has a loading bay in this city too, the same applies to Northern Nigeria traders too, then I paused to ponder over this classic observation of implementation of what entire Africa has merely preached in conferences, across social media platforms and often times offering political rhetoric about regional trade and integration of economic communities that will boost internal economies and bring development to the affected regions.
What I saw in the city of Aba made me believe that people of the South East has the capacity to rebuild and sustain the economy of their region if they choose to do so and entire Nigerian including Lagos and Kano will take all the pains to come down to do business with them whether the Nigerian government located a Seaport in the South East or Not.
However, one truth remains glaring, and that is; the miscalculation of the position of Lagos seaport and poor understanding of the significance of boosting regional infrastructure and growing regional economies. This has been the major albatross of people of the south east region and their political leaders that made them to hide in Lagos and complain endlessly of marginalization while their political office holders hides in Abuja in self conceit.
Until the emergence of Political leaders like Governor Alex Otti, business has merely thrived in frustration and losses without a leader with the clear political will to establish the kind of internal infrastructure that will make the commerce thrive.
Then Governor Otti’s Labour party government came with a blue print I have followed keenly and found out if South East political leaders are able to summon the political courage to adopt this model template, in no distant time, the tides will turn in favour of the region and Nigerian will divert the unwholesome attention given to Lagos as center of Commerce while neglecting the actual people who sustains the commerce that is giving Lagos such false commercial tags.
Let’s take a look at the Gov. Otti’s template of engaging the market forces, boosting the people’s earning capacity and improving internal infrastructures; majority of these goods transported from Lagos to the south east and being returned to the Lagos market from Aba were made possible by individuals controlling the market forces, those who sees the need to build regional capacity of the Aba brand.
How has the Otti’s model template affected the market forces; He emerged with a passion to revive the city by improving its internal infrastructure, like roads, lightning up the streets and market centers, remodeling of public facilities, cleaning up the city, and most importantly improving the residents earning and spending power by encouraging regular payment of wages, introducing small scale loan schemes that targeted majority of the artisans that dots across the city of Aba and most remarkably dealing with the issues of security menace headlong without political sentiments.
Another thing I found very significant in the city of commerce was the mastery of production of commodities from this region. I found out during a close conversation with one of the traders that majority of those shoes with a “Made In Turkey” Sticker were actually manufactured in Aba and distributed across Nigeria as imported products by the Lagos traders.
The summary of the impression I got from this city of commerce and entrepreneurs hub was that the people has the ultimate power and the capacity to correct that misconception and over flogged excuse of marginalization and underdevelopment which has remained a common political feature most South east regional political leaders has harped upon to deceive their people and leave the region underdeveloped.”
It is the people that will bring development to their region and no matter where they are located, the world will go to look for them, that is the model template the Ott’s leadership has experimented in Abia and it is working favourably, whereas I can vividly remember some few years back, Abia was the butt of crude leadership and environmental jokes – Not anymore, and the same thing can happen across the South East Nigeria if the leaders chose to adopt the Gov Otti’s template of cleaning up the system and be sincere with the desire to effect a realistic infrastructure and leadership change and not courting mere political attention by hungry hordes of praise singers that are momentarily engaged with you to appease their greed and vanity.
The emergence of Governor Alex Otti has proved that development resides with the people and their representatives in government and not necessarily the direct impact of the Abuja political office holders.
The Enyimba city in Abia State is regaining its lost years of moribund business climate that was caused by sheer neglect of political office holders and the people, to take responsibilities to invest in their home land.
Today, the Lagos entrepreneurs and foreign investors come to Abia state to look out for opportunities to do business because they found a leadership that is committed to its promises of cleaning up the city and rebuilding collapsed infrastructure, aligning with the productive forces of the economy which is the people, their ability to build business and sustain a brand that compels Lagos and the world to go to Aba under rain and under very terrible regional road conditions, yet people all over West Africa are taking night and day buses to Aba to do business.
When regional infrastructure are put in place, the state can only get better, the South East business owners that are being tormented and threatened in the city of Lagos with eviction by unscrupulous ethnic bigots propelled by false political narratives, will relocate entire business to the South East and like I have just narrated the number of high rise buses that will be loading Goods from Aba to feed and clothe the over 20 million Lagos residents will increase and the benefit can only be imagined.
Njoku Jerry A is the State Publicity Secretary of Labour Party in Abia he writes this piece from Umuahia
