From Okwe Obi, Abuja The Igbo Community Association (ICA), FCT, has renewed its call for the Federal Government to approve a seaport in Nigeria’s South East and upgrade Niger Delta ports to ease congestion at Lagos ports. The association believes a South East seaport, near an active trade hub, would cut logistical delays, reduce business costs, and drive economic growth. The proposal notes Lagos’s Apapa area, where port activity pushes population density to 8,172 people per square kilometre, far above the national average of 261. In contrast, the South-South region has 253, and the South East has 1,800. ICA President General, Ikenna Ellis-Ezenekwe, in a statement yesterday, stressed that redistributing maritime resources would decongest Lagos and boost trade efficiency, given the South East’s reliance on Lagos ports. “The tenets of democracy support an equitable spread of infrastructural development across the regions of Nigeria,” he said. “It even makes for a good business decision to house the seaport closer to the source and facilitators of the international trade activities. This over-focus on the seaports in Lagos has become counterproductive and a tad nepotistic.” He urged the Tinubu administration to consult experts for a South East seaport plan. “ICA FCT is calling on all South East based unions and organisations to join in this push,” he said. “There is a need not to continue to feed to the perception of South East being marginalised by the Federal Government of Nigeria. It is not only morally right, it’s good business practice for the country.” Ellis-Ezenekwe added, “The South East and the Igbo-speaking areas of Nigeria are equal partners in the Nigeria project. We should be treated as Nigerians that we are. Housing of a seaport in the South East will definitely wither down the urge for agitation to a significant minimum.”