President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Friday broke ground for the construction of the $3bn Bakassi Deep Seaport Project in Ikang, Bakassi Local Government Area of Cross River State.
Tinubu was represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, who was flanked by the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, CON, and Governor Bassey Otu.
Shettima said he had not come to Calabar to cut a ribbon and dance. “I have not come to Calabar to cut a ribbon and dance Ekpe masquerade. I am here to break ground and break a centuries-old jinx,” he said. “Many people believed that this will never happen.
They said it will be a pipe dream. They said Bakassi will only be remembered for what we lost. Today we answer them with a shovel, with concrete, with steel and with hope.”
The Vice President said the same water that took something from Bakassi will now bring something back. “The Atlantic that people feared will now feed your children,” he said. “Bakassi Peninsula was not the end of your story but the beginning of your next chapter.”
He recalled that the project was designed as a 20-metre deep port, one of the biggest in Africa, paired with a 260-kilometre superhighway as its evacuation corridor. He said the idea drifted like a canoe without a paddle until Governor Otu gave it new legs, securing funding and formalising the public-private partnership in February 2025.
Governor Otu described the groundbreaking as a milestone of inestimable significance achieved through the Renewed Hope mantra of President Tinubu.
He said the project was encumbered by political, administrative, legal and environmental bottlenecks until Tinubu approved more marine corridors, leading to the Certificate of Compliance and final federal approval.
Minister Oyetola said: “Today we lay the foundation for a new chapter in Nigerian maritime development, economic diversification and regional competitiveness.”
