NIGERIA, Dec. 8 -- They said the South-East was landlocked. And for years, everyone swallowed that story like cold medicine. But the truth was sitting in plain sight: the region was never landlocked-only made to appear so. Someone stroked a pen across a file, sealed it with an official stamp, and that was it. Doors closed. Access blocked. And everyone moved on.

But anything man writes, man can rewrite.

Up North, places that are truly landlocked now boast operational inland dry ports, bonded terminals, and export corridors humming with activity. The question hangs like smoke in a small room:

What is really stopping the South-East?

The river is still there. The lake still widens into navigable channels. Old quays still sit where barges ...