Amid impact of the #EndSars on sea ports, a former House of Representatives member from Buchi State, Ibrahim Mohammed Baba has appealed to president Muhammadu Buhari to relocate operations from Lagos to Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital.
The call is coming a few days after a violent attack on the office of the Nigeria port authority (NPA) by some hoodlums.
Mohammed Baba, a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) made the call in a letter addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to him, the relocation if not done, will affect operations at the Lagos seaport and will consequently impact negatively on the economy of the country.
Baba who is aspiring to be the National chairman of the APC in the forthcoming extraordinary national convention, urged the federal government to expand operations to other ports in order to provide alternative means of facilitating local and international trades.
It can be recall that the head office of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) in Lagos Island was set on flames when hoodlums under the guise of #endsars protest attacked the building on Wednesday.
In the attack, several vehicles were burnt and other properties damaged.
Baba opined that the ongoing violent threat posed by Endsars protest that led to burning down the NPA office if not tamed, will no doubt cripple business activities in the nation.
“I write to humbly advise the federal government to immediately order the relocation of all seaports operations in Lagos to Port Harcourt, Rivers State”, he said.
According to Baba, by doing so, the nation’s economy will be prevented from being adversely affected.
He noted that there are two major seaports in Rivers State, the Rivers ports and the Onne port that can successfully execute all the international shipping businesses that have been going on in Lagos.
Mohammed Baba also advised that similar ports in Calabar, Cross River State and elsewhere be enhanced and completion works on the Baro port in Niger State be fast tracked to enable the country to have various alternative means of facilitating both international and local trades.
“When this is done, it will also help in freeing the country from possible threats and blackmails by gangsters who could destroy or hijack a particular port in order to sabotage the nation’s economy”, Baba said.
He advised that, while the federal government battles those who want to undermine Nigeria’s corporate integrity and stability, the nation’s economic arteries should also be protected and multiplied.
