By Jimitota Onoyume, Assistant News Editor

Warri Port, renamed Delta Port , is one of the public institutions in the heart of the old Warri that made the oil rich city thick. Till today you still find many Nigerians of northern and eastern origin who relocated from their states to reside in Warri because of the commercial hub created by the Port.

A nonagenarian, Papa Emeka Nwafor told the Vanguard during a chat that he has literally lived all his active days in Warri , saying he was a deck hand in several vessels when the Port was active. ” I came here as a teenage boy to work in the port , married and had all my six children here. They are grown ups now with two overseas. The Port was the special thing in Warri”, he recalled.

Rev Father Dr Ambrose Oghenejode , the Catholic priest at St John Baptist Catholic chaplaincy , Federal University of Petroleum , FUPRE, Effurun, Uvwie local government area , spoke glowingly of the era when the Warri Port was a centre of robust economy in the country. At an end of year Thanksgiving of Alders League and Friends in his parish last year Father Oghenejode recalled sweet memories of the Port in the 70s, saying they even sold 404 Peugeot cars there. Alders League and Friends, is a body of friends who grew up in Warri and are committed to the revival of the city. Father Oghenejode is a member. In his homily he also appealed for revival of the Port.

Sadly this Port that productively engaged over 1000 youths daily ,including ancillary hands like food vendors is literally a shadow of its former self. From the main entrance to the Port you rarely find business activities going on except for a handful of Mama put canteens by the side, a newspaper vendor and a lady selling petrol in jerrycans at a transit stop for Keke riders and small buses heading to Effurun roundabout.

When Vanguard spoke with some officials and members of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, at the Port on grounds of anonymity they were unanimous in their call for regular dredging of the Port and the Excravos bar mouth because it’s a River Port unlike that of Lagos that is a Sea Port.

They said the general complain among importers is that the Port is too shallow and cannot take vessels conveying even as low as 2000 metric tonnes of cargo, adding that it was last dredged about twenty years ago.

While appealing to the federal government and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, to urgently dredge the river from the forcados terminals down to the Excravos bar mouth and the entire water channel some also alleged insincerity on the part of some key players in government to see that the Warri Port comes alive.

” Some persons in government don’t want this Port to come alive again. But God Almighty will fight for us as Niger Delta minority in the country.”, one of them quipped.

Chief Ayiri Emami, a prominent Niger Delta leader said he tabled the urgent need for the federal government to dredge the Excravos bar mouth at one of his meetings with President Bola Tinubu when he visited him at the presidential villa , Aso rock , Abuja.

“I told Mr President during one of my visits to the presidential villa that they should dredge the Excravos bar mouth. The problem we have is the Excravos channel.”, he said.

Ayiri who has filling stations in Warri is a major stakeholder in the Maritime sector. During commissioning of one of his gasoline stations on the Warri-Sapele road last year he had made the same appeal to the federal government to dredge the shallow river.

Olayinka , not real name , said he has been working in the port for over thirty years and can speak authoritatively on the challenges plaguing the place.

His words : ” I can’t use the word “dead ” if not I would have used it to described the Warri Port. We don’t get vessels in two months . Our water channel is almost blocked , debris has blocked the water. We have had several issues where vessels were grounded due to the shallow water. Tankers coming to the Warri refinery suffer. When vessels get grounded they look for means to tow them. This is a challenge. Importers are complaining about this.

“Customs, immigrations have also not been helpful. They charge exorbitant tariff, things they can’t try at the Lagos Port they do at the Warri Port . I understand the head of the Customs at the Warri Port now is considerate.

“The most important thing the Warri Port needs is dredging of the river. We heard last year that they awarded the contract to a foreign company but we are yet to see any serious action going on. If they can dredge the channel , it is so shallow and also make tariff friendly then the place will be alive again . The major problem is the shallow water, the channel is so shallow. If they dredge the water the place will be busy again, vessels will now be coming in.

“Vessels of three thousand metric tonnes can’t enter the port, in Lagos you hear of vessels with twenty thousand tonnes entering with ease. When you dredge the Warri Port , vessels with high tonnage will now be able to enter the port without problem.

“When you travel to Excravos you see evidence of the shallow channel. Warri is River Port so it needs regular dredging . For Warri the sea terminates around the forcados terminals. From the forcados terminals you come into the river. You need to constantly dredge this river . For over twenty years no dredging has taken place in the Warri Port.

“Even inside the Warri Port is shallow , vessels find it difficult to belt , even vessels of 2000 metric tonnes , they struggle to berth as many times before they finally do.

“Importers complain and say the shallow channel is why they can’t invest here. They should dredge from the fairway boy and all over the Port. The government knows what to do.”

An official of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria who does not want his name in print said a combination of deliberate effort to frustrate revival of the Port and the delay in dredging the shallow waters were among issues that kept the place almost dead.

He said until few months ago Julius Berger was the only company in the Port making the place look like something serious was going on there. According to him, the international oil companies ,IOCs in the state use their jetties to move their cargoes.

“Nothing is happening in the Port, there is no traffic at the Port. The only group making the place answer the name Warri Port is Julius Berger . In the last six months or so vessel has also not been coming for them. “, he said.

Like others, he also made appeal for the water channel to be dredged. Curiously, he alleged that budgetary provisions were made annually for dredging of the water ways but nothing was done.

For him, it was simply high wire politics that has kept the Warri Port in its comatose state with only private jetties belonging to IOCs functioning.

“They should dredge the Port , this is the major issue. I heard them say youths are disturbing , stopping the dredging of the Port, this is not true, this is just politics “, he opined.

“The only place functioning are the private jetties like the one belonging to the international oil companies, the main Warri Port is dead. Importers prefer to use Lagos port and then move their cargoes by road to the East or Northern part of the country. Some have said shallow water is the issue but I think politics or a deliberate act to kill the port is the problem.”, he said.

“They make budgetary provision for dredging the water every year, we see it but nothing is done. Sometimes they blame the youths but it’s not true, our youths are people we can talk to anytime. They are not restive. When the port is booming the youths will be productively engaged .”, he claimed.

Harping on the advantages of the Port when it functions at optimal capacity the maritime union official called for check on the activities of security operatives on the NPA road, saying they also discourage importers from using the Port with the way they allegedly harass those conveying cargoes for tips.

“Warri Port is a viable port , it connects the East , the north and even the Western part of the country with ease. “, he said.

” Check points by force men are also a problem . The number of police check points on the NPA road is high. This also discourages importers because at every stop they “collect” “, he added.

He also said the Koko port in Warri north local government area is relatively inactive because few export take place there .

“Koko Port is also inactive although occasional export of tiles produced in Edo State go through there to some Africa countries but the place is not active in the real sense of the word active. “, he said.

Vanguard gathered that oil pipelines and facilities littering the waterways on the Koko port’s route is a major problem affecting the Koko Port.

No Port official at the Warri Port was ready to speak with the Vanguard at the time of this report.

Meantime Vanguard observed that renovation was done in the main building housing various offices of the NPA staff , making the place wear a beautiful look.

The federal government and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA should yield to the myriad of appeals from Maritime stakeholders to dredge the Excravos bar mouth and the entire waters to make the Port and by extension the hitherto popular Warri city come alive again.