SATURDAY March 1, 2025 |TheNewsDESK
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The Akwa Ibom State Government, on Friday, February 28, 2025, sought the Federal Government’s support to construct and operate the Ibom Deep Seaport project, ThePUNCH reports.
It also demanded a presidential intervention in various ecological challenges, inviting President Bola Tinubu to commission its Arise Deport, a swath of reclaimed lands under its anti-erosion programme.
The state governor, Umo Eno, revealed these demands to State House Correspondents after he led a delegation of stakeholders from Akwa Ibom to a meeting with the President at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, Friday evening.
Eno argued that Nigeria’s South-South needs a seaport serving its population and described other seaports, especially that of Lagos as “congested”.
He said, although his administration had begun earnest plans for the facility, “no state government can, alone, build a deep sea port.”
Eno said, “We need to collaborate with the Federal Government. We need the FG’s support. So we have made a request to the president to help us intervene so that Akwa Ibom will have a deep sea port.
“It will be a game changer for the state, for the region, and indeed, for the nation. We have a seaport of 17.2, and it is about the deepest in the country. And we just need that support.
“We are building a road now into the deep seaport. We have other infrastructure, we have provided, but we need the FG to support us.”
His comments come one year after he visited President Tinubu for a similar request on January 10, 2024.
“We’ve talked and requested him to support us with our Ibom deep seaport,” Eno told journalists at the time, adding “Ibom deep sea port has the deepest wharf that will bring in ships and we can ship from that point. Lagos is there. But you know Lagos is congested. So, you need a deep seaport that will take care of the southeast, south-south, the Niger Delta region.”
The Ibom Deep Seaport, located in the Southeast of Akwa Ibom State, is a planned deep-water facility built on a natural draft of about 17.5 meters, one of the deepest in the region.
Experts say the depth is a key feature allowing it to accommodate large vessels and handle a variety of cargo, including containers, dry bulk and liquid cargo.
The federal government will own the facility through the Nigeria Ports Authority in partnership with the Akwa Ibom State Government and private investors.
Although the Federal Executive Council approved the Outline Business Case for the Public-Private Partnership project in May 2015, it remains uncompleted a decade later.
Eno, who was at the Villa in the company of his immediate predecessor, Udom Emmanuel, said he also invited Tinubu to inaugurate the state’s new reclaimed lands, Arise Deport.
“The truth is, part of our request to the President has been for him to give us the presidential intervention. We have so many ecological issues in Akwa Ibom, gully erosions almost consuming even the government house.
“But we embarked on a very ambitious programme reclaiming the ecological gully erosion site and turned it into a resort.
“Now we have what we call the Arise Deport, for which I have just invited His Excellency, Mr President, to commission a very ambitious project, and we’ve asked him also to help us intervene,” the governor explained.
The delegation comprised Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who was a former Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, lawmakers from the state, traditional rulers and religious leaders, youth and women groups, among others.
“The traditional rulers took the opportunity to honour the president with the chieftaincy title, the highest in our land, Otuekong, meaning the Commander-in-Chief, to show that we stand with him,” he added.
