Dredging of River Niger: The solution to low foreign investment in the eastern part of Nigeria. By Ibe Smith (ISB)

Recently, I had a conversation with a motorcyclist who wished I could pay him fifty Naira higher than what I was supposed to pay him. After a little argument, he asked are you Igbo? Yes, I replied, and he said Nwanne (my brother) we are suffering in Lagos. Curiously, I pressed to find out what the matter was and he told me that since the day broke, he just started his bike business around 6:30 pm just to avoid being caught by Lagos state Law enforcement agencies.

The quest to turn Lagos state into a mega city grossly affected  the majority of the Igbos  who reside in Lagos as a result of a Law that was recently passed banning Okada business, demolition of some market places, banning street trading, and deportation.

Even in the midst of suffering and toiling to survive, none of the mega city policy victims wish to relocate back to the east because they feel that the level of business opportunities in the eastern part of Nigeria is very poor. The level of poor investment, and lack of business opportunities within the four eastern states of Nigeria resulted in a high level of migration to Lagos State. Lagos is a city for all they say, and as such they enjoy to suffer in as much as they have a place to lay their head at nightfall.
Obviously, the issue of overpopulation in Lagos is not just as a result of high migration from the eastern part of Nigeria rather over population in Lagos is a global issue. Investors all over the world wish to invest in Nigeria, the first city that comes to any foreign business man is Lagos. An adage in Igbo, says “Onye ji igu ka ewu na eso” (he who has the palm leave attracts the goat)

The question now is what is in Lagos that pushes  people  to come down here to invest? The cost of living is very high, to establish a company in Lagos is not an easy thing, the tax rate is very high and life very difficult in Lagos.

I can say that it is very hard to make it in Lagos as a corporate body. In spite of all these challenges and struggles to survive, foreigners are still willing to invest in Lagos.

Logistics is not an easy one either, bringing a 40ft container from Apapa to my office in ikeja is about N 130,000. Depending on the type of container, you pay a certain amount per a day to the shipping company until the last day the empty container is returned. If the container is a reefer container you have to pay about 35,000 each day.

Logistics inconveniences are the major reasons investors cluster here in Lagos.

E.g. when a foreign company imports some goods containerized in a reefer, A trailer driver will charge about N 700,000 to convey a 40ft container to Aba. Each day the container spends on the road, the customer pay about N 35,000 the shipping company.

When you put all these expenses into consideration, the chances of a foreigner investing in any part of the eastern Nigeria are very slim.

When I was a boy, I prayed to graduate from the secondary school early so that I would have the opportunity to work in Golden Guinea brewery. That was the only functioning factory in Umuahia Abia state as at then but now one hardly sees a foreign factory or company in the east again.

Travelling from Aba or Umuahia to Akwa Ibom, you see vast empty lands because no one is willing to invest in such areas as a result of logistics inconveniences I pointed earlier.

Dredging of River Niger, the solution.

Like I said before, people’s quest to come down to Lagos for investment is not because all are rosy, but because of easy logistics and access to the port. The sea port in Lagos is what attracts people to come over here.  

Recently, many companies moved to Ogun state just to flee from high taxation in Lagos state. Many more are willing to move to Onitsha, Aba Owrri and Enugu if the means of conveying the raw materials are affordable.

It was announced early this year that President Goodluck Jonathan commissioned the dredging of the Niger Bridge. Frankly, I was very happy and I wished it was not one of those political promises.

If the River is dredged to become a seaport, it means that one can stay in Onitsha and place an order, and the container is received in Onitsha.

An Indian man who also wants to cut costs will quickly move his factory down to Onitsha to avoid high taxation in Lagos.

People will not be forced to relocate to the east again, rather they will willingly move back to their states.

I believe this should top the agenda of the Igbo governor's forum.