The SEAPORT NOBODY WANTED in the State That Needs It Most

Aba makes shoes, clothing, and leather goods that sell in Accra, Dubai, and across Africa — but every container still has to travel hundreds of kilometres west to Lagos before it can reach a ship. Now Abia State wants to fix that with something it has never had: a seaport. The problem? Abia has no coastline.This is the story of an ambitious plan to connect a landlocked manufacturing city to the Atlantic by dredging nearly 19 nautical miles of river — the engineering gamble, the politics of borrowing a neighbour's waterway, and the federal approval graveyard that has buried projects exactly like this one before. From the workshops of Ariaria Market to the survey vessel taking depth soundings on the Imo River, we break down whether a state without a coast can really engineer its way to the sea.⏱️ CHAPTERS 🔔 Subscribe for more African infrastructure and megaproject stories. 📌 What should we cover next? Drop it in the comments. #Aba #AbiaState #Nigeria #Seaport #Infrastructure