REVIVE BURUTU SEAPORT, COMMUNITY BEGS BUHARI

•Says President Buhari once lived in Burutu

•Calls on NPA Managing Director to extend her alleged visit to Burutu Port

The people of Burutu Community in Iduwini Kingdom, Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State have appealed to President Mohammadu Buhari to revive the Port, stressing that its revival will breath life into the community from further retrogression.

The community alleges that President Mohammadu Buhari once lived and schooled in Burutu Community.

This was contained in a Press Statement signed by the Community’s public relations officer, Comr. Napoleon Kenerekedi yesterday in Burutu.

Napoleon, while commenting on the poor state of the community, alleges that the Burutu Seaport have over the years facing ignominious neglect from the government as nothing responsible is being said or done about its revival.

The statement read in part. “We are calling on President Mohammadu Buhari who also lived and schooled in Burutu Community to please revive his beautiful town that he was once proud of. We know that you will shed tears if you visit your town to see what it has become.

“It is our firm belief that His Excellency President Mohammadu Buhari has Burutu at heart hence the reason why he visited the town while he was head of state in 1984 to look and construct the Burutu dry doc that was approved by the federal government which was earmarked as the largest in Africa and second largest in the World as at then.”

According to him, the Burutu Port was built by the Royal Niger Company in 1887 and latter transferred ownership to the United African Company, UAC that the Nigerian Government took it over from the Company in 1969 and commence full operations in 1970 immediately after the end of the Nigerian civil war.

The community also calls on the Managing Director of the Nigerian Port Authority, NPA, Ms. Hadiza Bala Usman to extend her visit to the Burutu Port with a view to revive it, lamenting and regretting what the Port has become.

“It is so regretful to note that while other Ports are not working efficiently to maximum satisfaction, the Burutu Port have been abandoned and only God knows if this Port is still on the Federal Government list of Ports. The seaport have been so deeply neglected that the Federal government for a very long time no longer talked about it.

“We are appealing to the NPA boss and the federal government to please do something positive in regenerating the life of Burutu community by reviving the Port which was one of the oldest ports in Nigeria. Hence we call on the NPA boss to extend her visit to the Burutu Port.” It asserted

“Our attention have been drawn to the move by the Managing Director of Nigeria Ports Authority Ms. Hadiza Bala Usman for her good intentions to visit some ports in the country with a view of making them function more effectively.

“This is the only Seaport that is in Ijaw Land in Delta State located strategically in a riverine community close to the sea shore with easy movement of ships from the Forcados river.

“Reviving of the Port will no doubt create employment opportunities to people within the region and it will benefit the entire country as it will drastically reduce vices. Some of the things that are happening in our region could be averted if the federal government develop our places. For instance if this Port is revived and many people are engaged , the level of hostilities will not be so rampant as we are experiencing now.

“We begin to wonder why everything that have to do with Burutu is always treated with unabated hatred despite our role in the pre colonial days of Nigeria. Burutu in the past have hosted several institutions and prominent personalities that now controls the helms of affairs of the country.

“Before now, we thought that it was only human beings that dies, little did we know that towns also dies, the present state of Burutu is indeed a glaring example to this fact. This once prominent town have been so tortured by human forces that it has retrogressed beyond recognition.

“Please use your good office to fix Burutu back to its track by reviving the Seaport and other things that will add meaning to the town.” It stated.

However, a visit to Burutu Community by Gbaramatu Voice correspondent reveals that the town is totally in a deplorable state.

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