A development consultant and international business executive with spread in 15 countries, Adamu Garba has called on the Federal Government to invest massively in the maritime sector.
He identified the maritime sector and indeed, development of ports as one key area that would open up the Nigerian economy widely and create more jobs.
Garba, who made this known while interacting with newsmen at the Port Harcourt International Airport Omagwa on Thursday, noted that many developed countries of the world like China, are where they are now because they have utilised their resources in developing their ports.
According to him, one major setback that Nigeria has is the system of sharing resources from the oil sector without using them adequately to develop other sectors of the economy like the ports.
“One major setback we have in this country is the fact that resources from the oil is being shared among the Federal and States, and that has made some states to be idle and lazy.
“When money is being shared like that, it makes leaders not to think, and all they will do is to think on how to spend the money and put some in their pockets.
“A leader or government that is thinking will know that it is less costly to do dredging of canals and rivers which is a natural thing, than to spend huge sum of money to build rail lines which we do not have the expertise.
“River channels are natural endowment that can convey higher tonnage of goods without affecting the water, unlike the road where trucks and heavy duty trailers keep spoiling the roads, when they transport goods from far distance.
“It will be more costly for government to maintain road network, than building ports and dredging channels that can allow movement of goods from hinterlands across the nation; without much wear and tear.
According to the Adamawa State-born business executive and politician, people will always locate the ports for business, and not the port looking for people.
“What makes the economy of Lagos State more viable than other state economies is the presence of ports across the state, which has opened the state to other economic advantages and economic boom”, Garba said.

Corlins Walter