The senatorial candidate of the Labour Party for Cross River South, Rt. Hon. (Ntufam) Daniel Asuquo recently stated that making the Calabar Seaport operational is his topmost priority. Asuquo stated this while addressing a cross-section of the press in Calabar. He reiterated this position while also addressing the people of Ikot Ishie, Akai Efa, and Ikot Ansa that the Calabar Seaport takes the top spot on his to-do list as a senator for Cross River South, the Nigerian State as well.
According to the experienced and seasoned legislator, the functionality of the seaport will not only benefit the state but the country and the world at large. The state of the seaport is akin to one who has a treasure and instead of exposing the treasure the exposure to get marketable value, you rather hide it and deny yourself and others the prosperity such a treasure could bring.
Explaining further, Asuquo said that he was part of the committee that investigated the contracts of the Nigerian Ports, and the sharp practices there are enormous. The dredging of the Calabar Seaport became an avenue for settling political scores and others. We have frantic efforts to right the wrongs, but there is a limit I can go as a representative member.
I give you my word, the seaport is my number one priority, and I will be working hand and hand with the governor and all other stakeholders to ensure the seaport is up and running. As our first step.
I have done my homework and as part of steps towards the functionality of our seaport, the Minister of Transportation shall come clean with a policy document on the operations of the seaport, let no one deceive you that it is not possible as we are ready to play the politics this time.
If you study the world map carefully, you can then Imagine the wastefulness and the pains we go through in this country, that ships coming from Europe, China, and Australia have to pass through Calabar Port, Port Harcourt to Lagos to go and queue up, and after discharging the cargo, trailers will have to load and embark on a long tedious journey to the East and the North and other parts of the country. We completely push our country's economic hub to one region and become subservient to their dictates and this is what they have weaponized against us.
Think of Cross River State in your mind's eye if the seaport is working, think of the economic activities here and all of that. As a member representing a constituency, there are limits to the things I can do in the National Assembly but as a senator, it is a different ball game and I want to put my experience to bear to ensure that Calabar regains the glory days through the seaport and every other thing that will come with it.
The challenges faced in this state in unemployment, technical education, technological advancement, etc will be dwarfed by half if our seaport is working. We will push for this to finality, so let's get to work, he added.
The story of the Calabar Seaport has been very pathetic with a contract upon a contract of the dredging of the seaport becoming a tale by the moonlight. The bureaucracy and bottlenecks that have characterized the dredging of the seaport especially as it involves certain high-profile personalities in the country leave very little to be desired from the wilderness experience of the seaport. Except for the section of the seaport which takes care of vessels bringing in refined petroleum products, the seaport would have been completely redundant.
It is for these reasons that it becomes imperative to give life to the vision of ensuring that the policy documents for the full functionality of the Calabar Seaport become a prerogative that involves the contribution of industries and other stakeholders.
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