FG to build Sea Port in Akwa Ibom

The federal government has announced plans to collaborate with the Akwa Ibom State government to build a deep sea port in the state.

The Minister of Transport, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman disclosed this in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State during the Presidential campaign tour of the state.

According to Alhaji Suleiman, the federal government was interested in the industrialization programme of the Akwa  Ibom State government and would collaborate with her to build the deep sea port to be cited in the Ibaka area in Mbo local government area.

The Minister who had earlier visited the site said the sea shore in Akwa Ibom has a draught of 15 metres suitable for ocean liners and coming next to Lagos in terms of depth. Alhaji Suleiman investment in port development in the area would place Akwa Ibom State and Nigeria as a major economic hub in the Gulf of Guinea.

With the deepest shoreline, the Ibom Industrial City will have the best deep sea portin Nigeria, a feature the Minister said had attracted the federal government's attention in the project.

Also speaking, the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Chief Godswill Obot Akpabio unveiled an ambitious industrialization programme which would be achieved during his second term.

 
Governor Akpabio said his administration had concentrated on infrastructural and human capital development in the first term, as a foundation for its industrialization programme.

According to the Governor, major turn-key industries would be established in the state while at least one industry would be cited in each local government area in the state through public-private partnership.

It would be recalled that the Akwa Ibom State government had earlier constituted the Ibom Industrial City Development Committee and appointed Worley Parsons, an internationally recognized engineering consultancy firm as lead consultants.