Engr Nkpubre O. Nkpubre’s passion for the actualisation of Ibaka Deep Seaport in Akwa Ibon is legendary. A former MD/CEO of Nigerdock Nigeria Ltd, Nigeria’s premier Shipbuilding and Repair Yard, he has let no one in doubt that he means well for the people of Akwa Ibom State. But how ever, his grouse with successive adminitrations in the state is the planned relocation of site from Oron to a Dugout New site, which he says might be counter productive. We publish below a recent response by Nkpubre to Gov Eno Umoh. Excerpts
I listened carefully to the plea of Governor Umo Eno PhD, of Akwa Ibom State to the people of Oron Nation, which was broadcasted in a television video clip that has since gone viral. As a person who was appointed Chairman of an Advisory Committee for Oron Nation on the Ibaka Deep Seaport, I make this reaction with all humility in order to address the inherent misrepresentation of the position of Oron Nation on the Ibaka Deep Seaport relocation controversy contained in the Governor’s message.
When Mr. Ini Ememobong, the erstwhile Commissioner for Ibom Deep Seaport, visited me some months ago to solicit my support for the Ibom Deep Seaport as a Dugout Deep Seaport, I enjoined him, after some clarifications, to ensure that our Governor was properly briefed so as to enable him do what is right. I therefore forwarded to him some of the key advocacy documents of Oron Nation on the Ibom Deep Seaport, especially those opposing the Dugout Deep Seaport concept, which he acknowledged with thanks. Unfortunately, he left the Government of Akwa Ibom State shortly thereafter. It appears that the Governor of Akwa Ibom State was not properly briefed.
The positions of Oron Nation, as expressly stated in the petition signed by all the Paramount Rulers of the five Local Government Areas of Oron Nation and many distinguished Oron sons and daughters, which was forwarded to the former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Deacon Udom Emmanuel, are as follows:
1. Oron people do not object to or disagree with the change of the name of the Deep Seaport from Ibaka Deep Seaport to Ibom Deep Seaport. What Oron people strongly object to and disagree with is the unjustified relocation of the Deep Seaport from its preferred location at Ibaka Bay, based on a questionable document.
2. Oron people are also strongly opposed to the massive excavation of a dry land area of about 1.5 square kilometres (equivalent to about 150 football fields) to a depth of 18 metres in order to create an artificial ocean for a Dugout Deep Seaport near its maritime environment. When I met with Mr. Akan Okon in 2021, who was then the Honourable Commissioner for Ibom Deep Seaport, and inquired about how the approximately 50 million cubic metres of excavated materials would be disposed of, he informed me that the materials would be used to fill the marshy areas of Mbo Local Government Area. I immediately informed him that there was no way Oron people would accept such a proposal.
3. Oron people did not chase away Bolloré of France, the preferred Core Investor, from the Ibom Deep Seaport project, as implied by the Governor in his message. Oron people had forwarded a petition to Governor Udom Emmanuel expressing serious concern about the proposed relocation of the Ibaka Deep Seaport and the massive excavation near its maritime environment for a Dugout Deep Seaport. They also requested an audience with the Governor so that their concerns could be addressed. The audience was never granted. Instead, Oron people were ridiculed in the media, and their petition was described as worthless and fit only for the trash bin. Consequently, Oron people decided to write to the Core Investor, who would have borne 60% of the investment cost of the Deep Seaport development, urging the investor to ensure that the right thing was done. It is therefore curious that Bolloré of France, which we learnt had advised the former Governor, Udom Emmanuel, to look into the concerns raised by Oron people, is now willing to serve as the Core Investor in the Ibom Deep Seaport without first ensuring that those concerns are adequately addressed.
4. The Ibeno (Seaside) location, which ranked fourth among the five locations assessed by the Project Delivery Team of the Federal Government working with consultants, is not within the political boundary of Oron Nation. Indeed, it is the only one of the five locations evaluated that lies outside the political boundary of Oron Nation. The location where the Dugout Deep Seaport is proposed to be built falls entirely within the political boundary of Ibeno Local Government Area. Sir U. J. Esuene, the Military Administrator of the then South Eastern State, had forcefully annexed the area, which was previously within Oron territory, to Eket territory. Subsequently, when Local Government Areas were created in Akwa Ibom State, the area was included in Ibeno LGA. It is therefore misleading to claim that when a Dugout Deep Seaport is built there, it would still be located in Oron Nation territory.
In 1990, when Nigeria’s oil reserves were observed to be drifting towards the deep-sea terrain, thereby requiring numerous Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels, a need was identified for a Mega Shipyard in the country for the integration and maintenance of FPSOs and Supertankers. A study conducted by a technical team to determine the best location for such a Mega Shipyard recommended only two locations in Nigeria. I personally read the Technical Report. The two recommended locations were Amasoma in Bayelsa State and Ibaka in Akwa Ibom State, with Ibaka scoring the highest points. This may have inspired the then Nigerian Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, to announce during a nationwide television broadcast in 2011, the Federal Government’s plan to establish a Deep Seaport at Ibaka, accompanied by a Mega Shipyard for the integration and maintenance of FPSOs and Supertankers, as well as a Free Trade Zone.
In 2012, a Ministerial Steering Committee was constituted to drive the project, while a Project Delivery Team (PDT) was established to work with consultants to carry out comprehensive due diligence studies, including the selection of the exact preferred location for the Deep Seaport. A location in Ibaka Bay, tagged Okposo, shielded in the north by Tom Shot Island and in the south by the Okposo Peninsula, was selected as the ideal site for the Deep Seaport. Incidentally, this same location had been independently selected by Worley Parsons during its 2009 location assessment for the Commercial Port component of the Ibom Industrial City (IIC). Feasibility Studies and Financial Modelling based on the preferred location estimated the cost of the Deep Seaport at only USD 2 billion, which would have made it one of the least expensive Deep Seaports of its kind in the world.
Imagine what a Deep Seaport accompanied by a Mega Shipyard for the integration and maintenance of FPSOs and Supertankers could have done for the economy of Akwa Ibom State and Nigeria, with Supertankers from oil-producing countries in West and Central Africa, such as Angola, patronising the Ibaka Mega Shipyard.
This monumental Federal Government project, which was supposed to be the biggest Integrated Maritime Infrastructure in West Africa, brought to Oron Nation, was frustrated by ethnic chauvinists within Akwa Ibom State because Ibaka Bay, where the project was to be located, lies within Oron Nation, a marginalised ethnic community in Akwa Ibom State.
In 2015, Ephraim U. Paul of Akwa Ibom State University, in collaboration with James M. Kahatu of Texas A&M University, published a technical paper titled “Navigational Channel Depth for Ibaka Deep Seaport in Nigeria”, based on extensive studies of Ibaka Bay. The paper established that Ibaka Bay possesses an average equilibrium non-dredged draft of 13.5 metres, which has remained stable for many decades. In their conclusion, the authors highly recommended Ibaka Bay as a location for a Deep Seaport, requiring only minor maintenance dredging.
It was therefore mind-boggling when I came across a questionable document titled “Overview – Site Selection”, released by the Chairman of the Ibom Deep Seaport Implementation Committee, in which “+”, “-“, and “0” signs were manipulated to make Ibeno ( Seaside) appear as the best location and thereby justify the relocation of the Deep Seaport from Ibaka Bay to Ibeno (Seaside)
A plus sign (+) by itself has zero quantitative value. It is only when expressed as +1 that it carries a value of one. Therefore, adding plus signs in ten places does not equal +10; it still amounts to zero. Unlike the location assessment undertaken under the supervision of the Project Delivery Team of the Federal Government, which employed accepted statistical procedures, the process adopted under the Mfon Usoro-led Implementation Committee was illogical and constituted an abuse of basic numerical principles.
Having managed projects and worked extensively with consultants, I find it embarrassing that such a questionable document could be used in my State to frustrate a major engineering infrastructure such as a Deep Seaport with a Mega Shipyard project that should have positively impacted the lives of millions of Nigerians. This questionable document, which was used to justify the relocation of the Ibaka Deep Seaport, can be challenged in a court of law as incompetent to justify the relocation of a Deep Seaport from a preferred location selected after a comprehensive Due Diligence Studies.
There is nothing before God and Man, that could have justified the relocation of the Ibom Deep Seaport, which could have been followed by a Mega Shipyard, from Ibaka Bay. Such an action can only be attributed to the challenge of human integrity, which has been responsible for the failure and dysfunction of numerous development projects such as the Calabar Seaport, Ajaokuta Steel Complex, Aladja Steel Rolling Mill, and many others, which have contributed to Nigeria’s continued underdevelopment despite its abundant natural resources.
I have always seen Governor Umo Eno PhD, as a humble man with a good heart. However, a political environment populated by individuals with entrenched self-interests can create tremendous pressure. As a Pastor and an advocate of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, with His Gospel of “Love your neighbour as yourself,” I pray that the Almighty God will touch the heart of our dear Governor and cause him to do what is right before God and Man… Engr Nkpubre o Nkpubre was a former Managing Director of Nigerdock and Chairman, Oron Advisory Committee on Ibaka Deep Seaport