Why Calabar port must work

There is no gainsaying the fact that Calabar Port is very strategic to the economic development of Nigeria, particularly the North-Central, South-South and South-East regions of the country. Besides, when functional, it will increase the volume of vessel traffic and cargo throughput in the port, decongest Lagos ports and reduce cost of doing business for Calabar-based businessmen who spend additional transport cost to take delivery of their consignments in Lagos and Onne ports.

It is for these reasons that on November 17, 2014, immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan flagged off the operations of Calabar Channel Management (CCM), a joint venture company between Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) and a consortium of companies led by Messrs Niger Global Engineering and Technical Company Limited, for the dredging of the Calabar Port. Recall that previous Federal Governments had made several investments to dredge the port to ensure safe navigation, but such efforts had proved abortive with billions of naira sunk.

Unlike previous contracts, however, it is gladdening to note that CCM is presently carrying out capital and maintenance dredging of the water channel well known for its shallow draught that has hampered bigger vessels from coming into the port in the last decades.

So far, CCM has deployed dredgers, survey vessels, buoyage tender, wreck removal cranes and other ancillary marine crafts to the water channel for its operation. For maritime watchers, it is a strong indication that robust business activities will soon begin to take place in the ancient city of Calabar and will, no doubt, change the face of the state hitherto regarded as sleepy, as well as the entire North-Central, South-South and South-Eastern states that will benefit from efficient service delivery at the port. This effort, they say, is coming at a period of renewed global interest in trade and investment in the Nigeria maritime sector.

The product of the investment, according to the industry watchers, will certainly address the quest by ship owners to have more dedicated ports that will play host to larger and deep draught vessels, which is now the trend in international shipping business.

Despite the landmark achievements by CCM in the dredging as alluded to by all the stakeholders, including the NPA, it is learnt that CCM has not been paid by the NPA since inception of the project. Not even the usual mobilization fee required in such contracts, a situation which gives room for concern.

Reacting to the development, a maritime analyst in Calabar, Akpan Umoh, said he hopes “the non-payment to the contractors is not another attempt by the government to abandon the dredging as in the past”.

Investigations reveal that poor budgetary allocation by the NPA management led by the former managing director, Habib Abdullahi, is responsible for the non-payment of the contractors. It was leant that the then Abdullahi-led NPA management starved CCM of funds and preferred to allocate larger sums to the Lagos and Bonny Channels whose physical infrastructure has already been developed and may not have activities in terms of actual work to match their budgetary allocations.

The action of the NPA management has raised concerns by maritime watchers who wondered why the management would allocate little funds to the Calabar Channel dredging project which has massive infrastructural outlay that includes the ongoing capital dredging campaign.

A source in NPA told this writer that the non-payment of the certified invoices of CCM is deliberate and part of the grand design to frustrate the project. According to the source, a cabal in the NPA has interests in various ports across the country – the concessioned Lagos and Tin Can Island Ports, Intels Onne, and Port Harcourt Port. Allowing the Calabar Port to be operational, therefore, will not be in their interest. The same cabal, the source added, is also responsible for the non-operationalisation of the Lekki Deep Sea, Ibaka Deep Sea and Badagry Deep Sea Ports which have been on the drawing board for many years.

Though there seems to be a new dawn at the NPA with the recent appointment of a new managing director, Sanusi Lamido Ado Bayero, who wants to change things positively, the cabal is said to be lobbying him to toe its line in order to frustrate the operation of these ports.

A maritime lawyer, Nsikak Ediom, while reacting to the attitude of the NPA to frustrate in particular the Calabar Port, noted that “the NPA management does not want the dredging of the Calabar which is very strategic to the economic growth of the country and the South-South and South-East regions in particular”.

In spite of all these intrigues, however, maritime watchers are of the opinion that the Calabar Port project must not be allowed to go the way of previous contracts. They want President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene urgently so that all encumbrances and those directly and remotely frustrating the project are removed for the full realization of the Calabar Port. They call on the president to put the issue on the front burner as he reels out his economic blueprint for the country soon.

Princewill Umoh

Umoh is a public affairs analyst based in Calabar