According to him, Switzerland has no coastline, yet it has built globally competitive pharmaceuticals, precision engineering, finance, advanced manufacturing, and high-value services.
He also cited Australia, which has built manufacturing, logistics, tourism, and sophisticated services by integrating itself into the enormous European market.
"So why should a landlocked Nigerian zone behave as though the absence of a seaport means the absence of an economic future? The real question is not: Where is our sea? The question is: Where is our strategy?" Sowunmi said.
He said a serious leader must understand that a landlocked economy requires deliberate investment in roads, rail, dry ports, inland logistics, aviation, storage, processing, digital infrastructure, power, and cross-border trade corridors.
"You do not need a coastline to export. You need an efficient route to somebody else’s coastline," he said.
"If your zone cannot have a seaport, then build the most efficient inland production and distribution system possible. If your farmers cannot ship directly from the coast, process their commodities locally and move higher-value products through efficient corridors. If your manufacturers are far from the port, build industrial clusters around rail, road, and logistics infrastructure. If your people are far from international markets, make your cities centres of skills, services, technology, and enterprise.
"Geography tells you what you have to overcome. Leadership decides whether you overcome it.
"There is also a difficult conversation that the people of these regions must have with themselves.
"Development requires an investment-friendly culture. Investors need predictability, security, social stability, openness to enterprise, and a population that understands that economic activity is not an invasion. A hostile environment—whether created by insecurity, extortion, communal obstruction, excessive demands, political interference, or suspicion of legitimate business raises the cost of doing business and ultimately drives opportunity elsewhere."
Sowunmi advised that Nigeria’s landlocked zones need a new development compact, adding that they need to stop asking for what the Federal Government will bring.
According to him, they need to focus on their governors, local government chairmen, traditional rulers and other institutions
He said, "Ask: What can our governors build? What can our local governments facilitate? What can our traditional institutions protect? What can our people produce? What infrastructure can connect us to the nearest port? What industries can turn our raw materials into finished goods? What behaviour must change to make investors want to stay?"
He concluded that a seaport is an asset that tends to become mere infrastructure without production.
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