By Emeka Mamah

Enugu—Ohanaeze Ndigbo, yesterday, dismissed the Senate’s resolution asking the Federal Government to establish dry or inland ports in Enugu, Onitsha and Aba, all in the South-East geo-political zone, saying the resolution amount to nothing if there was no cash backing for its execution.

President Buhari

The Senate had, acting on a motion sponsored by Senator Stella Oduah (PDP, Anambra north), asked the Federal Government to urgently establish the ports to help accelerate commerce and industry in the country.

The motion was entitled Need for the establishment of dry and Inland Ports at Onitsha, Enugu and other landlocked states.

However, reacting to the development, the Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr. Joe Nworgu, said the resolution did not in any way address the marginalisation of Igbo, adding that the time had come for the country to discard rhetorics by addressing serious national issues frontally.

His words: “The Senate can approve the projects, but if money is not provided, it will be counting your chickens before they hatched.

“What we are saying is that we need to see the hand of the Federal Government positively committed to projects in Igbo land, otherwise we remain skeptical.”

Nworgu further stated that the Federal Government should be seen to be executing projects and not saying “earmarked for execution” all the time, pointing out that the plethora of abandoned projects in the South-East was because governments had run out on its propaganda gimmicks.

He, however that said notwithstanding his pessimism , the projects would positively impact on the economy of the region.

According to him, the objectives for their establishment might be defeated if the bad roads in the zone were not rehabilitated or re-built completely.

Nworgu used the occasion to restate the Igbo mantra of “think home, invest home” philosophy for Igbo entrepreneurs.