By Steve Agbota
The African Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON) has called on the Federal Government to prioritise and accelerate construction of access road leading into Onne Port in Rivers State.
The Onne Port access road has been abandoned for several years with successive governments paying lip service to its construction. The association blamed the bad roads in the axis for crippling Ease of Doing Business and other activities at the Port. President of APFFLON, Otunba Frank Ogunojemite, who stated this during the flag off of the Onne Seaport Chapter of the association, said the Federal Government needs to accelerate construction of the access road leading to the port, which has now become a death trap.
However, he also called for establishment of rail transportation on the road to ensure evacuation of containers and exports at the port.
The road stretches from Warri in Delta State to Oron and Eket in Akwa Ibom State through Kaima in Bayelsa State and Ahoada, Port Harcourt to Ogoni in Rivers State. Sections I and II, covering Warri to Kaima and Onne Port Junction to Eket township have been completed, but Section III, covering Port Harcourt/Eleme Junction to Onne Port Junction, which is just about 15 kilometres, has been neglected, despite lofty promises by the Federal Government.
“The government should also think of multi modal transportation, especially rail movement of containers, this would make the road to last longer, it would also help the farmers and people living in that community. As it is, people read Psalms before embarking on any journey to the port, if you tell anyone you are in Onne, they will not want to come and see you, it is that terrible.
“We learnt that the road construction was awarded by the Federal Government, this is why we are calling for acceleration of work, they should also monitor it for alternative multi modal transportation. The Onne road is an impediment to the ease of doing business, it is destroying vehicles and causing accidents.There are lots of farmers living in the community, they cannot get their farm produce out of the area to the port and generate revenue,” he said.