Despair as proposed Ibaka deep seaport remains a mirage

Less than two years to the May 2015 delivery date of the proposed Ibaka deep seaport project, the project has remained a mirage as both the federal and state governments are yet to commence construction work on the project site.

When BusinessDay visited the proposed port site at Ibaka, Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, recently, it was discovered that no concrete job has been done on the port site as the waterfront was solely dominated by fishermen and other businessmen whose main business centres on buying and selling of seafood.

Specifically, no structure was found on ground to show that port project would soon commence at the site. Also, the only road leading to the port site, which is the Mbo-Ibaka road, is currently in a very bad condition. The dualisaton of Mbo-Ibaka road, which the Akwa Ibom State government promised to embark on for ease of cargo movement and to cater for the number of trucks that would be lifting imported cargoes from the port to the importers’ warehouses in other parts of the country, is yet to kick off.

“How can we have a port here when the only road leading to the port site in Ibaka is in a bad condition?” asked Eric Nwachi, an Ibaka-based fisherman, saying the government needs to commence construction on the road to make it accessible for the indigenes of Ibaka community before it can start to talk about the deep seaport project.

However, it was also discovered that a new jetty was built at the proposed port site at Ibaka to enable small craft and ferry boats to berth at the Ibaka waterfront. This is contrary to the view of Idris Umar, minister of transport, and the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), who at different fora told Nigerians that work was ongoing at the Ibaka port project which the Akwa Ibom State government promised to deliver in 2015.

Ibaka deep seaport is a project conceived over three years back by the Akwa Ibom State government to be built in partnership with the NPA. The 15-18 metres draught port was to be situated on a 129-km stretch of land at Ibaka to not only serve the southern parts of the county but also service countries in the Gulf of Guinea, such as Cameroun.

The port, which will make Ibaka a self-sustaining industrial city on completion, will service those countries that share common land border with Nigeria. The port area will also harbour independent power plants, a refinery and industries, and it is expected to create 100,000 employment opportunities for Nigerians. The proposed port project, on completion, will also strengthen the country’s position in the global oil and gas sector.

It would be recalled that during the visit of Shi Hong Bing, managing director, China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC), to present an architectural design of the project to Godswill Akpabio, Akwa Ibom State governor, in Abuja, the governor promised to build and deliver the Ibaka deep seaport before leaving office by the year 2015.

The governor was reported to have also promised to award a contract for the dualisation of the road leading to the port as well as saying that, in partnership with the Federal Government, the state government would build a multi-modal transport system that would include rail lines linking Port-Harcourt and Calabar.

In light of this, Governor Akpabio last year handed over the Certificate of Occupancy (C-of-O) of the land where the seaport is to be sited measuring 5,580 square metres to the then managing director of the NPA, Omar Suleiman.

Speaking with our correspondent, who visited the Ibaka port site to ascertain the level of the project, Okon Eyo Udotong, the youth leader of Ibaka community, said the residents want N10 billion as compensation from the government to enable them relocate their businesses and houses to other areas. “We are not against the port project and we are ready to relocate for the development of the area,” he said.

Explaining further, he said the state governor in 2008 came to the proposed port site and made a pronouncement that the port would be sited at Ibaka, but nothing has been done to justify the pronouncement. “We have a deep sea here, no doubt, but government should give the villagers compensation before taking their lands,” he added.

According to industry analysts who spoke to BusinessDay, it will not be possible for Akwa Ibom State government to build and deliver the Ibaka deep seaport in 2015 as projected by the governor. They believe it will take the state government over five years to build and deliver the first phase of the port as well as execute the dualisation of the port access road.