A group, the Rivers State Investment and Investors Forum has called on the Federal Government to site the proposed deep seaport in Rivers State, saying that the oil and gas-rich state has all it takes to run the facility.
President of the forum, Ibifiri Bobmanuel made the call when he appeared on a radio programme monitored by The Tide in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
Bobmanuel was reacting to the cancellation of the contract for the $2.6billion Badagry deep seaport by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), recently on the grounds that the project’s master-plan was wrongly done.
The Tide recalls that following the cancellation, the management of NPA had begun the process for fresh bids for the approval of a new port master-plan for the Badagry deep seaport project.
But President of the forum stated that such a project was necessary in view of its natural maritime environment in addition to divesting the huge concentration of maritime activities from Lagos to the Eastern ports, which he said, was currently experiencing a lull.
Bobmanuel explained that the multi-billion naira project, if sited in Rivers State, would create thousands of jobs as well as boost the economy of the state.
According to him, “We (Rivers) stand the best chance of achieving this but basically what we need, it takes a lot of industry and commitment for us to be able to achieve this.
“So, it basically boils down to how collective we could be. How we can come together and see how we could achieve this for the benefit of the state and our people.”
He said the forum has taken it upon itself to ensure that the state is being considered for the deep seaport project, saying it met and held fruitful discussions with the NPA management.
“The good thing is that the investors’ forum had taken it up as part of its responsibility working with the broad sector of our society.
“We have already started that process. We actually had a meeting with the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) not too long, very fruitful meetings with the NPA and we think in that light we should be able to achieve it because Rivers State has virtually all it needs.
“Its proximity to the east makes us key. We must have to spread these responsibilities around in the country, and the next ideal and natural location for such an investment, is Rivers State,” he said.

Dennis Naku