The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has called on President Bola Tinubu’s administration to urgently complete the Port Harcourt-Enugu Expressway, the Port Harcourt-Enugu Standard Gauge Railway Line, and rehabilitate the Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri seaports, describing the projects as critical to Nigeria’s economic future.
The demand was contained in a communiqué issued after the National Executive Council, NEC, meeting of Ohanaeze held in Umuahia, the Abia State capital by Chief Omenazu Jackson, President General Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide.
Jackson said the continued delay in completing the projects had hampered economic growth, increased the cost of doing business, discouraged investment and weakened Nigeria’s competitiveness.
He urged the Federal Government to classify the projects as matters of urgent national economic importance, insisting that the call was based on economic realities rather than regional or political interests.
According to the group, the projects would benefit all parts of the country by improving transportation, boosting trade, strengthening national integration and accelerating industrialisation.
The organisation described the Port Harcourt-Enugu corridor as one of Nigeria’s most strategic economic routes, linking the oil-rich Niger Delta with the commercial and industrial centres of the South-East while serving as a gateway to the North-Central and Northern regions.
It noted that the poor state of the expressway had increased transportation costs, caused accidents, damaged goods and contributed to rising inflation through higher logistics expenses.
Ohanaeze said completing the highway would reduce travel time, improve road safety, lower transport costs, ease the movement of agricultural produce and manufactured goods,
