The federal government has approved the
request by Cross River State for the formal
recognition of Bakassi Deep Seaport, which is
under construction.
Making the disclosure at the weekend while
answering questions from journalists at the
State House, Cross River State Governor, Prof.
Ben Ayade, said the official approval of the port
by the federal government had given the state
the recipe to launch the port on a commercial
scale.
He listed the composition of the port to include
an evacuation corridor and a six-lane highway
linking the port with the north.
Ayade, who spoke with journalists after
meeting with the Chief of Staff, Malam Abba
Kyari, also said the highway which is almost
completed was conceived to bring the northern
closer to the Atlantic Ocean.
According to him, investors will invest on the
highway by building toll gates, adding that it
would boost the movement of goods because it
is a virgin road.
“Only yesterday, we got the official approval for
the Bakassi Deep Sea Port outline business
case which means that the Nigerian
government has now officially recognised the
Bakassi Deep Sea Port and has given us the
impetus to go for the full business case.
“The Bakassi Deep Seaport is the only port in
Nigeria that has an evacuation corridor; so you
have a port in Bakassi with a six-lane super
highway taking you direct to northern Nigeria.
So, what Cross River is trying to do is take the
Atlantic Ocean closer to Northern Nigeria.
“The super highway is almost done. If you get
to the super highway today, construction work
is going on but because it is a brand new road,
you don’t see it from the road and we are not
in a habit of dramatising it but when the dry
season comes, I am relocating to the super
highway because what we have done is to
segment it into 50 kilometres each and allow
investors who are interested to your beat; do
it; put your toll gate and recover your money
because it is a private road.
“It is a road that has never existed. It is not a
federal road. It is my initiative and the whole
idea is that the Northern part of Nigeria
particularly, the North-east and North-west
cannot see the desired prosperity unless they
get access to the deep sea port.
“Otherwise, the wonderful sesame seed we
have in Borno and Yobe lie prostrate. The solid
minerals we have in the North-east is lying
waste because you cannot travel 2,000
kilometres to a seaport carrying such materials
on road.
“So, definitely the super highway will shorten
all of that. The coal deposit is unexploited. So,
you see Nigeria sitting in huge want particularly
for northern Nigeria without anybody
extracting. I believe that the super highway
and the Deep Seaport are supposed to be
federal government project at this time
particularly with the potential that it will
succeed,” he said.