The Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, and Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade, on Tuesday met behind closed-doors to consider a blueprint of the Deep Seaport project initiated by the Governor’s administration.
At the meeting held in Abuja that lasted for about 40 minutes, both leaders discussed extensively, the proposed Bakassi Deep Seaport and the 260 kilometre superhighway signature projects of Professor Ayade, both estimated to cost about 700 billion Naira.
The Deep Seaport will boost the export of produce such as rice and banana as well as solid minerals, the Cross River government hopes.
According to Governor Ayade, “the Deep Seaport would not compete with existing Calabar Ports. It will only complement it because the Bakassi Port will be a 16-meter draft and will accommodate mother vessels especially from the far East”.
The governor had last year said the Deep Seaport had received presidential nod and support.
“Even in the face of several challenges and the fear that this project was impossible, the president has kept giving me proper encouragement and I am happy to acknowledged that,” the Governor told the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority who met with him days ago.
The Federal Government recently gave the Cross River State Government the approval to recruit a transaction advisor for the project.
It had also constituted an advisory and implementation committee for the project