By Bolarinwa Oladimeji
The Yoruba question in Nigeria cannot be separated from the question of economic power. For centuries, the Yoruba people have developed systems of commerce, political organisation and economic activity that existed long before the creation of Nigeria. The modern Nigerian state therefore cannot be the starting point for understanding Yoruba economic ambition. It is only one chapter in a much longer history of a people whose political and economic influence extended across territories that are today divided by modern national boundaries. We must understand this history before allowing contemporary political narratives to rewrite it or create the impression that every attempt by the Yoruba to develop our economic advantages is somehow an attack on another part of Nigeria.
This is particularly important because of the continued propaganda from some South-East commentators suggesting that the Yoruba are deliberately developing the coastline at the expense of the South-East. One recent example is Ms Oloma Juice, who argued that Nigeria loses ₦7.9 trillion annually to what she described as the Lagos port monopoly and recalled that the Nigerian Ports Authority had promised to shift focus to Warri. She then questioned why, instead of reviving existing ports in Delta, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Calabar, the government had approved a new seaport in Ogun State, asking whether Nigeria was actually trying to decongest its ports or merely fighting to preserve what she described as a South-West maritime monopoly. That line of argument must be challenged because it presents Yoruba coastal development as though it is a scheme designed to take maritime opportunities away from the South-East and other regions.
The first thing the public needs to understand is that the Yoruba relationship with the coast did not begin with the Ogun Deep Sea Port. The Yoruba people have been a coastal power for the past 600 years. We have been trading from Warri to Porto-Novo and Ouidah with Europe via Portuguese traders on equal footing. The Oyo Empire had Ouidah port, Porto-Novo port and Badagry port, while the Ijebus were using the Ikorodu port and Epe port. The Ilajes were using the port at Igbokoda before the existence of Lord Lugard and Nigeria. Our connection to the coast is therefore not a recent political project, neither is it an invention of the present administration. It is part of the historical economic geography of the Yoruba people.
Our coastal power was bestowed to us by God and through wars that our forefathers fought so that we can enjoy. We will not make any apologies for that or dim our light for anyone. The inheritance of our ancestors comes with a responsibility to preserve it, develop it and hand it over to future generations in a stronger condition. There is nothing offensive about a people recognising the geographical advantages available to them and deliberately building around those advantages. We should not be expected to apologise because we have a coastline, just as we should not expect another region to apologise because it has oil, agricultural land, minerals or another economic advantage.
The prosperity, economic strength and imperial hegemony of the Yoruba people existed long before the creation of Nigeria. What we are doing today is, in many respects, a continuation of what our people have been doing for centuries. There is no reason for the Yoruba people to hold back from building a prosperous homeland and creating the economic foundation that future generations can inherit. A people with a long history of economic organisation must be prepared to think beyond immediate political cycles and consider what kind of society it intends to leave behind. We cannot allow modern political arguments to make us forget that our economic history predates the country in which we currently live.
This is also why restructuring remains important to the Yoruba aspiration. We want a system that gives our people greater room to deploy our intellectual capacity, human resources, institutions and economic strengths towards building a more self-sustaining and prosperous society. The objective is not to wait for Abuja to determine the pace or direction of our development, but to create the conditions in which the Yoruba people can take greater responsibility for our own economic future. Restructuring should therefore not be reduced to arguments about political offices. It is fundamentally about giving different parts of Nigeria greater responsibility and opportunity to turn their own advantages into lasting economic strength.
The claim that the development of Ogun’s coastline amounts to the preservation of a South-West maritime monopoly is particularly difficult to sustain when the actual structure of Nigeria’s maritime sector is considered. Nigeria already has ports and port complexes outside Lagos and the South-West, including Delta Ports in Warri, Calabar Port, Rivers Port and Onne Port, alongside Lagos, Tin Can Island and Lekki. The Nigerian Ports Authority itself documents these facilities as part of the country’s port infrastructure. The development of another port in Ogun therefore does not erase those ports or prevent the Federal Government from investing in them. If anything, the existence of several maritime facilities demonstrates that Nigeria’s future should involve multiple economic corridors rather than dependence on one location.
If Warri needs investment, let Warri receive investment. If Calabar requires modernisation, let Calabar receive modernisation. If Delta, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa or Rivers possess opportunities to expand their maritime economies, those opportunities should be developed. But the development of those places does not require Ogun to surrender its own coastline. The argument should never be that because one region needs development, another region must stop developing. That is not economic federalism. That is a politics of scarcity in which every regional achievement is interpreted as another region’s loss.
The Gateway Deep Sea Port is itself being developed through an investment framework involving Ogun State and DP World, with the Federal Government providing regulatory and institutional support. At the September 2026 signing in Paris, the Federal Government said the proposed Ogun Waterside port, with a four-kilometre berth and an 18-metre draft, is intended to help decongest the Lagos port corridor, ease pressure on Apapa and Tin Can Island and reduce costs and delays for importers, exporters and consumers. The agreements envisage an initial investment of more than $7 billion, while the associated 10,000-hectare Blue Marine Special Economic Zone is intended to support manufacturing, logistics, maritime services and exports.
So the question should not be why Ogun is building a port. The more serious question is why every part of Nigeria with a viable economic opportunity should not be encouraged to build. A port is not simply a place where ships arrive. A modern port can become the foundation of an entire economic ecosystem involving manufacturing, logistics, warehousing, transportation, processing, exports, technology and employment. The Federal Government’s own description of the Ogun project presents the port and the special economic zone as interconnected infrastructure intended to support industrialisation and maritime trade.
This is where the narrative of a Yoruba maritime monopoly becomes misleading. The Yoruba are not saying that only the South-West should have ports. We are saying that the South-West has a coastline, major commercial centres, a large population, industrial capacity and a long history of maritime trade, and we intend to use those advantages. That should not be controversial. If another region has comparable opportunities, it should use them too. Economic development should not be a contest in which one region must remain weak for another to feel secure.
The Yoruba people have been a coastal power for centuries. Porto-Novo and Ouidah are part of the wider history of Yoruba interaction with the Atlantic economy. Badagry, Epe, Ikorodu and Igbokoda are also part of that historical story. The present development of Ogun Waterside therefore belongs to a much longer trajectory of Yoruba economic engagement with the coast. It is not a sudden attempt to seize something that belongs to another part of Nigeria. It is an extension of a historical relationship between the Yoruba people and the sea.
The Yoruba economic space also extends beyond the present borders of Nigeria. Porto-Novo in the Republic of Benin is part of the wider Yoruba historical space, and our coastal power cannot be understood only through the boundaries created by modern states. The history of our people existed before those borders, and our economic thinking should be broad enough to recognise the opportunities created by our position within the wider West African region. We should not allow the artificial boundaries of the modern state to shrink our understanding of what is economically possible.
This is why I reject the argument that the Yoruba should slow down their development because other regions have not developed at the same pace. A people cannot permanently postpone its own advancement while waiting for everybody else to catch up. If the South-East wants stronger ports, it should demand stronger ports. If the South-South wants Warri or Calabar to receive greater investment, it should demand that investment. If another region wants to build a new maritime corridor, it should pursue it. There is enough economic space for different parts of Nigeria to develop simultaneously.
What we must reject is the propaganda that Yoruba development is automatically another people’s loss. The Yoruba people are not taking away the coastline of the South-East. We are not preventing the South-East from developing its maritime infrastructure. We are not asking the South-East to stop building. We are simply saying that the Yoruba will develop what belongs to our geographical and economic space, just as every other people should develop what belongs to theirs.
The prosperity, economic organisation and institutional development associated with Chief Obafemi Awolowo provide an important lesson in this regard. Awolowo built an economic blueprint for the Yoruba people so that we would never be poor till eternity. His philosophy emphasised education, infrastructure, human capital, institutions and economic organisation. That approach remains relevant because economic independence does not come from political slogans. It comes from building the institutions and productive capacity that allow a people to determine more of its own economic future.
Awolowo created an economic power and warchest for us called Oodua Investment that is worth trillions of naira. The larger lesson is that the Yoruba people must continue creating institutions capable of carrying economic value from one generation to another. We cannot simply celebrate what previous generations achieved while failing to create institutions capable of matching the opportunities available to us today. Our responsibility is not merely to inherit the achievements of our forefathers. It is to expand them.
We will work tirelessly to build the most powerful economic bloc in the black world without waiting for anybody in Nigeria or outside Nigeria. This ambition does not mean that we cannot cooperate with other peoples. It means that cooperation should take place from a position of strength rather than dependency. A prosperous Yoruba economy can trade with the South-East, the South-South, the North and the wider world. A stronger regional economy can create opportunities beyond its own borders. Economic strength should create connections, not isolation.
The future of the South-West must therefore be connected to its geographical and economic advantages. The port of Ondo State is still coming, and we are going to build another refinery in Ondo, Badagry and Ogun. Before any part of Nigeria has full 24-hour electricity, the South-West will probably achieve it. These ambitions point towards a broader vision in which maritime infrastructure, energy, manufacturing, transportation and industrial development are connected rather than treated as isolated projects. The goal must be to build an economy in which infrastructure reinforces infrastructure and one investment creates opportunities for another.
The coastline should be regarded as an economic gateway. Ports can connect production to international markets. Refineries can support energy security. Industrial zones can create opportunities for manufacturing and processing. Transportation infrastructure can connect producers to consumers, while reliable electricity can support businesses that would otherwise struggle with high production costs. When these elements are developed together, the coastline becomes more than a geographical feature. It becomes the foundation of an economic strategy capable of transforming an entire region.
We wasted 50 years since the coup of 1966 because some people wanted to stop the rise of others through unitarism. The experience of excessive centralisation remains an important part of the argument for restructuring. When political and economic decisions are concentrated at the centre, regions can become excessively dependent on federal institutions even when they possess the resources, geographical advantages and human capacity to pursue their own development. The lesson should not be that one region must be stopped from developing. The lesson should be that every region should be given greater responsibility for development.
Nigeria is a federation of nations and an amalgamation of empires. The different societies that make up Nigeria did not begin their histories with the creation of the Nigerian state, and their identities, institutions and economic traditions did not disappear because colonial boundaries brought them into one political framework. A federal system should therefore recognise the capacity of its constituent peoples rather than force them into permanent dependence on Abuja.
This is why we should join the clamour for decentralisation of Nigeria, so that everybody can unleash their potentials instead of waiting for Abuja. Decentralisation should give the different parts of the federation greater responsibility for developing their economies, building infrastructure, attracting investment and creating opportunities for their people. Let every region develop according to its strengths. Let every region compete for investment. Let every region build institutions capable of carrying its people forward.
The Yoruba people should therefore not be ashamed of wanting economic power. We should not be made to feel guilty because we have a coastline and intend to develop it. We should not accept the argument that our development constitutes another people’s loss. Our geographical advantages are not something we need permission to use. Our history is not something we need permission to preserve. Our economic ambition is not something we need permission to have.
The South-East has its opportunities. The South-South has its opportunities. The North has its opportunities. The South-West has its opportunities. Nigeria should be a country where all these regions are encouraged to turn their advantages into productive capacity. The Yoruba people will use ours, and we expect every other region to use theirs.
The next generation should inherit more than stories about what our ancestors achieved. They should inherit functioning institutions, productive industries, modern infrastructure, strong educational systems, energy security and a regional economy capable of competing internationally. That requires deliberate planning and a willingness to think beyond the next election or political appointment. It requires us to understand that economic power is not created by waiting for another person to build for us.
We can remain part of Nigeria while demanding a political structure that gives our people greater room to develop. We can cooperate with other Nigerian peoples without surrendering our own ambitions. We can support a stronger federation while insisting that every constituent part should have the opportunity to unlock its potential. The future of Nigeria should not be built around the fear that one region’s progress automatically means another region’s decline.
The continued narrative that Yoruba coastal development is being pursued at the expense of other regions must therefore be rejected. The development of Ogun does not require the destruction of Warri. The development of the South-West does not require the stagnation of the South-South. The construction of another deep-sea port does not mean other Nigerian ports cannot be modernised or expanded. Nigeria has enough coastline, enough people and enough economic needs to support multiple maritime and industrial centres. The real challenge is to create the political and economic conditions that allow all of them to develop.
The Yoruba people have a responsibility to build without waiting for anybody. We should invest in our people, strengthen our institutions, develop our infrastructure and pursue economic opportunities wherever they exist. We should protect what previous generations built while creating new foundations for those who will come after us. We should not allow propaganda, political suspicion or fear of regional competition to make us retreat from legitimate economic ambition.
The future of the Yoruba should be approached with confidence, discipline and a clear understanding of economic self-preservation. We have a history of commerce, political organisation, intellectual development and institution building. We have a strategic coastline, major commercial cities, a large population and an extensive network across West Africa. These advantages must be converted into long-term economic strength.
Nigeria should not be a country in which everybody waits for Abuja. It should be a federation in which regions and peoples have the freedom and responsibility to build, compete, cooperate and prosper. If every part of Nigeria develops its own productive capacity, the country as a whole will have more economic strength. But that can only happen when regional development is treated as an opportunity rather than a threat.
For the Yoruba, the work is already underway. Our history provides the foundation, our people provide the capacity, and our geography provides opportunities that must be deliberately developed. We will not apologise for our coastline. We will not apologise for our ambition. And we will not allow anybody to convince our people that building our own economic future means taking away the future of another region.
We are not starting from nothing. We are building on centuries of history. And we are just starting.
Intellectual Property Notice: This article is an expanded editorial rendering of the views and arguments originally expressed by Mr. Bolarinwa Oladimeji. It develops his original thoughts and perspectives into a continuous opinion piece while retaining the substance and intent of his position.