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Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs and ad-hoc Committee on Ports, Hon Yusuf Buba Yakub, has called on the Federal Government to grant Cross River State a sovereign guarantee to ensure the construction of its deep seaport, the Bakassi deep seaport.
Yakub who led members of his committee on a courtesy call on the state governor, Sir Ben Ayade, said the Bakassi Deep Seaport project should not be seen as that of the state, but rather as one that would benefit the entire country, especially Northern Nigeria and neighbouring countries of Chad and Niger Republics.
The Committee was in the state as part of their oversight functions to investigate why ports in the eastern part of the country were not functioning optimally.
“This committee will do everything possible to ensure that the Deep seaport project comes to fruition because the port is not for Cross River, but Nigeria and the whole of Africa and by extension other parts of the world as many countries want to do business with Nigeria,” Yakub stated.
According to him, “a country like China wants to bring in a lot of heavy machinery to support Nigeria’s industrialization but because we don’t have deep seaports, some of the big vessels cannot bring in these equipment.”
He also applauded Ayade for also initiating the 275 kilometers six-lane superhighway as a solution to the road connectivity between Cross River and the northern parts of the country and neighboring countries as an evacuation corridor for the deep seaport.
The lawmaker therefore, urged relevant federal government agencies responsible for the success of the project to live up to their expectations.
“This is the first time I am meeting a governor that has great insight not only for the people of the state but for the entire Nigeria and even Africa at large because, in this 21st century, the only solution to the myriad of problems engaging our seaports is a deep seaport, and this man has already put this dream to use and it is practically on ground in four years. Cross River is ready to go and to give Nigeria a deep seaport.”
