Ibom Deep Seaport: “President Tinubu has Promised to Give support"

The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Umo Eno, has disclosed that President Bola Tinubu has promised to give necessary support to the fruition of the Ibom Deep Sea Port project.

Gov. Eno disclosed this to journalists after meeting with the President at the State House in Abuja on Wednesday.

The governor said President Tinubu instructed him to bring a Maintenance, Repairs, and Operations (MRO) memo for him to sanction, as the budget required a collaboration between Akwa Ibom State and the Federal Government.

“We’ve talked and requested him to support us with our Ibom deep seaport and agricultural programme on the oil palm.

“The President has graciously granted that I bring the memo to the requests including MRO (Maintenance Repair and Operations),” Gov. Eno said.

Speaking further, Gov. Eno noted that the Ibom Deep Seaport project being the port with the deepest depth would serve as a transshipment port to cater for the South East and South South geopolitical zones.

“Ibom Deep Seaport has the deepest depth that will bring in the ship and we can transship from that point.

“Again, Lagos is there but you also know Lagos is congested. Of course, that’s no story.

“So you need a deep seaport that will take care of the South East, South-South; if you like, the Niger Delta region,” the governor stated.

In addition, the Akwa Ibom State Governor also requested that President Tinubu support its Agricultural programme on the palm oil industry which has been moribund for 28 years.

According to the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the Outline Business Case (OBC) of the Ibom Deep Seaport project on May 11, 2015.

The Ibom Deep Seaport is a Federal Government project driven by the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) and the Federal Ministry of Transport, with Global Maritime and Ports Services Limited being the transaction advisor of the project.

The Ibom Deep Seaport is a transhipment port designed for large vessels with drafts up to 15 metres, as well as vessels with the capacity to load over 13,000 containers in one voyage.

The projected cost for the construction of the Ibom Deep Seaport is $4.6 billion.

Recall that in December 2020, Akwa Ibom State Government announced that the Federal Government had approved $2.016 billion as the first instalment of the $4.6 billion Ibom Deep Seaport project.

Apart from its potential to be the eastern gateway of Nigeria, the Ibom Deep Seaport is strategically located to serve the West and Central African region, including JDZ Sao Tome, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Angola, Gabon, Congo, Congo DRC, Chad, etc.