Tinubu approves Ibom deep seaport in Akwa Ibom
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Punch
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has approved the Ibom Deep Seaport project in Akwa Ibom State, in response to a request by Governor Umo Eno. The governor had pledged to deliver two million votes for Tinubu's re-election in 2027 in exchange for the port, according to Punch.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has approved the Ibom Deep Seaport project in Akwa Ibom State, Punch newspaper reports. The announcement was made on Friday at a rally held in honour of the state governor, Umo Eno, at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo, where the president had come to inaugurate local administration projects.
The approval came after Governor Umo Eno promised that Akwa Ibom would deliver two million votes for Bola Tinubu's re-election in 2027 if the federal government delivered the port. "Give us the Ibom Deep Seaport, we will bring two million votes," the governor said, according to Punch, arguing that the infrastructure can unlock the economy of the state, the South-South region and Nigeria as a whole.
The project, designed under former governor Victor Attah as the Ibaka deep seaport and industrial city, remained unrealised for decades despite featuring in successive presidential campaigns. Bola Tinubu had promised it at his 2023 campaign rally in the same stadium, citing the Lekki deep seaport, developed when he was governor of Lagos, as a model. Governor Umo Eno said the port would serve as a major transhipment hub and create thousands of jobs.
