Edozie Udeojo,Abuja
A group under the auspices of the Blue Resolution Initiative (BRI) in Niger State, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of commissioning the Baro Port despite the fact that there was no reasonable structures in place that was required to be inaugurated as a port. Speaking recently through its Secretary General, Malam Ibrahim Akib Ja’afaru, after a visit to the Baro port in Niger State, BRI described what the president commissioned as a warehouse and not a port.
He said that it was discovered that no serious dredging of the River Niger took place prior to or after commissioning, adding that if any was even done at all, that it was not intended for any big ship or vessels but barges of low or medium economic activities.
Ja’afaru thereby called for the immediate revocation of the contract for the construction of the trunk ‘A’ road leading to Baro port from Agaie Local Government. He also questioned the Federal Government’s seriousness over the Baro port project and expressed dismay that the Niger state government has never made its presence felt in Baro due to lack of good access roads, electricity, portable water, health facility, equipped school and other essential services.
The group further lamented that 17 months after the said commissioning of Baro Port by President Buhari, the project has remained abandoned.
The group therefore urged citizens and other stakeholders in the host state and Northern Nigeria in general to rise up to the challenge in making the Baro port project a reality, considering it’s economic, social and other benefits to the region.