Where is the Oguta/Orashi River dredging project? FG, Imo govt and Navy sealed deal TO open South east to Atlantic. Today abandoned and forgotten!
In May 2023, Nigerians watched with excitement as the Federal Government, Imo State Government and the Nigerian Navy signed a historic agreement to dredge the Oguta/Orashi River from Oguta Lake to Degema and out to the Atlantic Ocean.
On May 11, 2023, Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo himself was in Oguta to flag off the Hydrographic Survey and Dredging of the proposed sea route. He was joined by the Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, Ministers of Transportation and Trade & Investment. The promise was big.
Governor Hope Uzodimma said it will open up the South East economic corridor, create a Free Trade Zone, boost oil and gas, and tackle insecurity. President Buhari had even approved Oguta/Ohaji/Egbema as an Oil and Gas Free Trade Zone because of it.
Today, where is the project? Where is the deal?
It is 2026, 3 years after that flamboyant flag-off. No dredging. No ships. No seaport. Just silence. The project has been abandoned and forgotten, like many promises made to Ndi Igbo.
And this is what many of you don’t know:.
That same Oguta/Orashi route was an international economic hub. Big white ships berthed in Oguta, carrying palm oil, palm kernel and other produce from Igboland to Europe. The warehouses and offices built by the Royal Niger Company in Oguta in the 1800s are still standing today as proof.
So when we shout that the South East needs access to the sea, and you open your mouth to say “Igboland is landlocked, you have no access to sea”, who landlocked us?
If we were landlocked, how did big ships come to berth in Oguta before independence? How did our palm oil feed the world through that waterway?
Why was there an agreement to revamp it in 2023 if there was no sea route before? Why did Osinbajo come to flag it off?
They know the route is viable. They know it will change the economy of Imo, Anambra, and the whole South East. That is why they are keeping it abandoned.
The hydrographic survey was completed by the Nigerian Navy in September 2023 and submitted. Since then NOTHING. No funding. No dredging. No update. But they can award new projects in Ogun and Lagos every week.
South East must wake up. This is not just about Imo State. This is about economic freedom for over 60 million people.
We demand answers: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OGUTA/ORASHI RIVER DREDGING DEAL?
