Controversy has continued to trail claims by the Akwa Ibom State government that the proposed Ibaka deep sea port project would be delivered in 2015.
While both the state governor, Godswill Akpabio and the Transport Minister, Idris Umar, are celebrating the project as part of their achievements, residents of the area describe their claims as deceptive.

A recent visit by Daily Independent to the Ibaka deep sea project was revealing. Ibaka is a riverine community in Mbo local government area of Akwa Ibom State, and fishing is the preoccupation of the indigenes. Save for occasional jingles on radio by the state government and a marked out area for the proposed deep sea port, there is no significant investment to indicate a port construction is ongoing.

The only road leading to the port location is narrow and in disrepair. Container trucks cannot navigate through.  The site of the proposed seaport is currently used mainly for fishing activities and water transport for small crafts, ferrying passengers to destinations such as Calabar, Cameroon and Ghana, amongst others. There are no quay wall or aprons constructed or being constructed, save for a small jetty being used by the Nigerian Navy.
These realities raise questions about the federal and State Government’s seriousness in driving the project.

A community leader, Okon Eyo Udotong, told Daily Independent at Ibaka, that the claim that a deep seaport is being constructed in Ibaka is false. He said apart from when the governor visited the place some years ago, nothing has been done in the site, which is about 100 meters from his house.
“Nothing has been done ever since the government pronounced that there would be a deep sea port at Ibaka, Mbo local government area,” said Udotong. He said what would give an indication that the government is ready is when issues of compensation for the people to be affected by the project is discussed.

“Since they have not come to talk about compensation, nothing has been done. In 2008, the governor came here to pronounce that there would be a deep sea port in Ibaka, and since then, he has not come again. The only other person to have come is Robinson Ewah from the federal House of Representatives. He was even asking where that land that was given to the seaport is. I took them there.

“Government is always deceiving Ibaka people. It is when they want to solicit votes for election, that they make promises to build deep seaport. We do have a deep sea here; a lot of ships come here, mostly fishing trawlers. But before I believe that they would really come and build a seaport here is when they come to talk about compensation,” Udotong said.
The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Godswill Akpabio, had in August this year said the seaport project would be completed before he leaves office in May 2015.
Akpabio stated this when the Managing Director of China Civil Engineering Construction Company, (CCECC), Shi Hong Bing, led the management team of the firm to present an architectural design of the project to the governor in Abuja.
Considering the complexities involved in building a seaport, 2015 projection is unrealisable.

A maritime expert, Capt. Jerry Mgbonu, said that it is not possible to deliver the Ibaka Deep Seaport in the next two years.
“How can that happen? If they have not started construction by now, they will need a minimum of five years to deliver the first phase of the project apart from putting the road in shape,” Mgbonu said.

Minister of Transport, Idris Umar has restated federal government’s commitment to the development of deep seaports in Ibaka in Akwa Ibom State and Lekki and Badagry in Lagos, which he said, is aimed at decongesting the over-stretched port facilities in the country.
Last year, a steering committee was inaugurated towards the development of deep sea port in Ibaka Akwa-Ibom state by the Minister. Another steering and project committee on the development of Deep Sea Port Badagry, Lagos state was also inaugurated. The committee has seven members with the director of Maritime services Federal Ministry of Transport, Suleiman Nagogo as Chairman, while the Deputy Director Maritime Pollution , Federal Ministry of Transport , Dr Babayo Ardo is the Secretary. Inaugurating the committee, the, Minister went down memory lane, saying, the Ibaka Deep Sea Port committee is a huge success and therefore should be consolidated upon by another committee.

“In September 2012, I inaugurated steering committee for the development of Ibaka Seaport in Akwa-Ibom state. I am happy to say here that considerable progress has been recorded, resulting in the appointment of a Transport  Adviser for the Project who indeed has submitted initial due diligence report to the Project Steering committee in line with the ICRC Act.”
The initial Due Diligence Report, he said, was “to verify the project initial feasibility from financial, technical and legal perspectives and to design a structured approach to subsequent phases. The vision of Ibaka Deep Sea Port, commercial rationale, operational status, including assessment of existing facilities, business opportunities, technical scope and main challenges has been concluded. The second phase which is the outline business case and the procurement process report is to be concluded before the end of June 2013”.
According to the minister, “The maritime Sector of Nigeria, with over 84,000sq nautical miles is central to the nation’s economic development as a medium of  transportation, for global commerce, resource exploitation and recreation. Consequently to   maximise the potential of this key sector of the economy, Government has created the enabling environment to encourage Public Private Partnership arrangement, particularly in the development of seaports to facilitate international trade.

Unconfirmed reports say feasibility study for the construction of a seaport favoured Ibaka, but was manipulated and sited at Calabar during the era of Bamanga Tukur as managing director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). Ibaka, with a deep sea was abandoned for Calabar, which has shallow channels. Perennial dredging of the channels has reportedly become a conduit for stealing public funds. Although Tukur took a wife from Calabar then, it is not clear if that influenced the decision to site the port in Calabar, in disregard of the feasibility study.
Recently, Chairman, Board of Directors, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Tony Anenih, exposed an entrenched fraudulent practice regarding the dredging and management of the Calabar Channel.

Calabar port dredging exercise has become a bottomless pit of some sorts. The project, which has been a subject of budgetary allocation for ages, gulping billions of naira without tangible results, continues to generate fresh concerns.
Efforts to dredge the 84-nautical mile Calabar Port access channel since 1996, have repeatedly hit the rock, costing the nation over N15 billion in return, making some groups to call on the Federal Government to probe the $56 million (about N9 billion) spent on dredging the Calabar Port channel in 2006 without result.

It was gathered that Anenih, who is a two time chairman of the NPA Board wrote a five-page letter dated April 25, 2013, to the Transport Minister, Idris Umar, to express dissatisfaction with the NPA. It was titled: Appointment of Calabar Channel Management Company Limited to manage the Calabar Channel under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) Agreement with the NPA.

He appealed to the Minister to approve that the Joint Venture Agreement which was made on the 25th of January, 2013, between the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Consortium lead, Niger Global Engineering and Technical Company Limited, be suspended and to “direct that representatives of the Board of NPA, Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Justice should critically reappraise the Agreement and produce an acceptable Joint Venture and Management Agreements in line with the strong observations highlighted.”
According to Anenih, the purpose of the letter is to respectfully draw the attention of the minister to the Joint Venture Agreement which was made on the 25th of January, 2013, between the NPA and the Consortium.

“The said Agreement created a partnership arrangement between NPA and the Consortium and gave the Consortium the right to operate a Joint Venture Company, Calabar Channel Management Company Limited, where NPA holds 60 per cent equity and the Consortium 40 per cent…the circumstances that led to this Joint Venture Agreement and the terms, need reappraisal in view of the fact that as at the time the Agreement was signed, there was no reference records of the Consortium on the basis of which it was selected to manage the proposed Company.

From the Daily Independent