A coalition of Igbo leaders and socio-cultural groups has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to lift what they described as a decades-long “economic blockade” against the South-East, citing the continued closure of key coastal ports since the aftermath of the civil war.

The call was contained in a communiqué issued on Thursday after a two-day meeting in Asaba, Delta State, by the Igbo Unification Movement and the ‘Ndi Na Asu Bia’ Socio-Cultural Organisation.

The groups decried the non-functional state of the Port Harcourt, Bonny, and Opobo ports, once vital gateways for trade in Eastern Nigeria.
“The President must lift the unfair economic blockade imposed on the Igbo almost 60 years ago. We urge him to dredge, modernise, and functionally reopen those coastal ports to re-trigger a pole of development in the East, with spillover effects to the Middle Belt and even Lake Chad,” the communiqué read.

Signed by Chief Kingsley Onyenwemmadu Kainebi (President), Ofochi Benjamin Atagana Esq (Secretary/Legal Adviser), and Chief Cosmas Chikeobi Agada (Chairman, Local Organising Committee), the statement also demanded fairer distribution of infrastructure and federal projects, insisting that Igbo-dominated areas still lag behind despite their contributions to national growth.

While expressing concerns over political and infrastructural marginalisation, Igbo youth leaders at the gathering thanked Tinubu for what they described as “gradual improvements” in national security but maintained that “a lot still needs to be done.”

The meeting further endorsed the creation of Anioma State from the Igbo-speaking parts of Delta State, describing it as a matter of “equity and historical justice” within Nigeria’s federal structure.