A group, the South-South Consolidated Forum, at the weekend demanded the full use of the Calabar and Port Harcourt seaports, as well as the Tinapa business resort in Calabar, in order to boost the level of economic activities in the south-south region of Nigeria.
Arising from its elders/opinion leaders meeting held in Uyo, the forum, in a communiqué issued in Calabar, also urged the Federal Government to establish a one stop shop for Eleme petrochemical products in Port Harcourt, instead of transporting it to Lagos before sales to final consumers.
The seven point communiqué jointly signed by the forum’s president general, Chief Dick Harry and chairman, planning committee of the meeting, Rt. Hon. Mfawa Ofegobi, respectively, read in part: “That the Federal Government should reverse the anti-development policies against the region to allow the full use of the Port Harcourt and Calabar sea ports.
“Grant and extend grounding rights given to Lagos, Abuja and Kano airports to Port Harcourt. Activate and gazette Tinapa as an operational free trade zone.
“Establish a one stop shop for Eleme petrochemical products in Port Harcourt, instead of transporting them to Lagos before sales to final consumers.”
The forum’s membership, after its extensive deliberation on pressing national issues, unanimously expressed the region’s commitment to a united Nigeria, where true federalism is practiced as it is obtainable in other climes, the statement added.
It thanked the Federal Government for the Calabar-Lagos railway project, but appealed for its speedy completion.
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