Ibom Deep Seaport Secret Revealed:

Udom, Akpabio, Ors, Want The Project As Pension Right

They Use Seaport To Pass Money Into Certain Pockets

The all awaited intrigues, lies and propaganda behind the Ibaka Deep Seaport renamed by the government as Ibom Seaport has been unveiled by the visionary and initiator, the end user consortium of the Seaport. In a shock revelation to his reporter, A world class financial expert insurance authority Chief Monday Ekong an indigene of Abak, who claimed the visionary/initiator of the Ibaka Deep Seaport, Ibom Five Star Hotel and the now Victor Attah International airport said he birthed the project and share with the then commissioner for Industry Commerce and Tourism now a Senator Akan Eyakenyi in February 2000.

And that “she requested I should bring a proposal and that was taken to Governor Attah and Attah endorsed it. While the construction of the Five Star and Gulf resort was on, I told attah to get ready for the airport which was earlier opposed and I convinced them that we can’t have a tourism hotel without an airport. So, the proceeds of the Akwa Ibom investment from the Econet were used in the building of the airport”.

He explained that their main mission was to build a five star hotel, and the airport. And that the white men investors he brought from Uta, USA and Mr. Straw he employed expressed greater concern to develop something more substantial in the state. This led the team to go round the state, with the then Information Commissioner, Chris Abasi Eyo. “We went to the beach in Oron, but we couldn’t find the desired serenity. So we went to Ibaka”.

“We were impressed at what we saw. I saw a certain vessel moving, we were told it was going to Calabar. We studied the environment and got familiar with the depth of the sea. That was how we thought of a seaport. I had put up a proposal before for a river port at Ikot Iwen in Ikot Abasi then I had to put up another asking the government to replace it with Ibaka deep seaport”.

The visionary of the project said the former Governor Victor Attah told him (Chief Ekong) he “can only structure financing and that he (Governor Attah) had a builder from Belgium. I knew he wanted to favour somebody that was how Jackson Davos came into the picture of the project to do the construction of the seaport while I finance the development of the city. We were to construct Ibaka and called it Gulf Coast City in partnership with the Gulf of Guinea”. 

The Diplomat, Chief Ekong informed this reporter, the Ibaka Seaport was not to involve funding from the government except the land. And the former governor Attah who was an architect embraced the project. But former governor Akpabio now Minister originally was not acquainted with the project but came to know when he was reposted to ministry of lands.

“He had a fear because I was close to Attah, he ignored me and everything I did in the seaport. Before now they have started pulling out monies and sharing among themselves and I have not been given anything. We spent over 11billion but with interest have gone to 13 billion dollars. When we put-up our litigation against the government, Barr. Ekpeyong Ntekim helped him out and send letter to the court that we had abandon the project. How can we abandon our project?” he asked.

“We were targeting AKIPOC because we used to deal directly with them. AKIPOC told us they moved the file from AKIPOC to government house as a result AKIPOC refuse to cooperate with us. They claimed not to know anything. Their lawyers kept saying they didn’t know us”.

He asserted that money budgeted by the state government for the project went into certain pockets, and that Umana Umana, Jackson Davos and Arc. Frank Udo they brought in shared $10 million. “First I didn’t know until started those moves which Engr Etido Inyang if I didn’t share in the 10million,”he added

On the question of the relocation of Ibaka Seaport to Ibeno, the visionary and the initiator of the seaport, Chief Monday Ekong said it was more of politics than reality. And that, Ibeno when saw insincerity of the Akpabio’s government with the project, “they invited us to come and build the port in their area. We told them that can’t be possible because of the swampy nature of their environment. They insisted that with their 4,000 hectares of land, we could float an island out of water. So we told them they should not worry because we knew what we were doing”.

He stressed that when land was given, it was enough for Ibaka. But the then commissioner came to say that he had discussed with the governor and that they wanted an extension so the seaport could get to Ibeno, then the government offered 13,000 hectares of land in all to dovetail into Ibeno and Esit Ekid. He brought out a document after explaining how Akpabio government had hired a consultant to move the project to Ibeno.

It is on history that the Ibaka Bay as Nigeria’s deepest natural port harbour predates Nigeria as the British authorities commissioned a survey Oron waters as the best place suited for port location in the pre-Nigeria era. But often time, Nigeria went ahead to site all existing seaports in the country away from Oron (Ibaka) without recourse to the technical reports.