Otti Laments 19-year Delay in FG’s Completion of Isiala Ngwa Dry Port

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia


The delay in completing the Inland Dry Port(IDP) located at Isiala Ngwa, Abia State, 19 years after the federal government initiated the project, has not gone down well with Governor Alex Otti.

The Abia governor expressed his dissatisfaction over the non-execution of the project when he received officials of the Nigerian Shippers Council, in his office.

“Isiala Ngwa IDP was well-positioned from the initial conceptualisation. But, for it to remain on the drawing table for 19 years, something is definitely wrong,” he said.

Ground breaking ceremony for the commencement of the project was performed during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo and after clearing the site, work became frozen.

Otti, therefore, called on the federal government to initiate urgent intervention and address whatever challenges that have been stalling the construction of the needed infrastructure that would make the Isiala Ngwa Dry Port to become operational.

He noted that the delay in making the dry port operational constitutes a major economic loss to Nigeria, signalling that there was something fundamentally wrong with the implementation of the project.

The governor stated that reliable rail connectivity was needed to ensure the viability of inland dry ports because moving goods from the seaports to the IDPs requires the cheapest and most efficient mode of transportation, which is rail.

“The major problem is transportation. Until we solve that problem of rail, the inland port system will remain unviable,” he said.

According to him, given that the cheapest way to move goods is through rail, freighting them and paying more, “is not sustainable for business”.

Nonetheless, Otti commended the federal government for its ongoing investments in rail infrastructure, including the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri corridor.

He pledged his willingness to work closely with federal authorities, including the Minister of Transport, to resolve the challenges.  

The Executive Secretary/CEO of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Dr. Akutah Pius Ukeyima, had earlier in his remarks, lauded Governor Otti for his visionary leadership and commitment to the economic transformation of Abia.

He described Abia as a state strategically positioned to drive regional trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Ukeyima stressed the need for the Abia government to support the revival and full operationalisation of the Isiala Ngwa Inland Dry Port, which is a key project under Nigeria’s port reform programme.

He pointed out that the Isiala Ngwa Dry Port was gazetted in 2006 and concessioned to Eastgate Container Terminal Limited for a period of 30 years, adding that when fully operational, the dry port would attract businesses and development.

The NSC Executive Secretary stated that the dry port would provide direct access to global markets for Aba’s well-known industrial clusters and SMEs, generate thousands of jobs in logistics and related sectors, and boost Abia’s internally generated revenue.

He noted that the Isiala Ngwa IDP was strategically located to facilitate regional trade, cross-border logistics and to serve as a transit hub for landlocked countries around Africa.