A RAILROAD linking Uyo with Port Harcourt is one of the plans of the Akwa Ibom State Government to unlock the maritime potentials of Akwa Ibom State for the accelerated the economic development of the country.

Akwa Ibom Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio who stated this in a keynote address to participants of the quarterly meeting of Nigerian Ports Consultative Council Maritime Summit recalled that the maritime potentials of the state were locked and access to them denied.

Akpabio, who was presenting a paper on the topic “Unlocking the Maritime Potentials of Akwa Ibom State for Accelerated Economic Development in Nigeria,” said it was important to link all states, economic zones and mining areas with railways for easy movement of goods and people, and added that it was important to update the railway system in the country and go for faster and more modern trains.

While enumerating the maritime potentials of the State to include Ibaka seaport with one of the longest coastlines in the world and one of the deepest water depths in the country and rich shrimps, lobsters and other crustaceans, the governor said: “The Ibaka Seaport would not require perennial dredging because it has a depth of 13-15 metres. It also has the added advantage of proximity and centrality to deep offshore operations and the West Africa Region Joint Development Zone including Sao Tome, Equatorial Guinea, Angola and Gabon. Added to this is the security and peaceful nature of the community and the availability of ample undeveloped land.”

He said the government planned to build an Industrial City to be known as Ibom Industrial City, on the area the seaport is located, adding: “the Ibom Industrial City would be an industrial mix of oil and gas-based support services, dockyard and watercraft repair facilities, fertilizer plant, oil refinery, gas-to-liquid projects, petrochemical industries, power plant and the Ibaka Seaport and it promises to be a self-sustaining industrial city with schools, hospitals, shopping malls, hotels, among others.”

He said that when fully operational, the industrial city would employ 100,000 people and increase the export base of the nation.

Strengthen the country’s position in the oil and gas map of the world, open the state as one the gateways to the world in the Gulf of Guinea.

Akpabio who hinted that the state government has issued a Certificate of Occupancy for more than 5580 Sq. metres of land to Nigerian Ports Authority, commended President Goodluck Jonathan for the Federal Government’s acceptance to develop the seaport.

The Minister of Transport, Mr. Idris Umar, who was represented by the Managing Director of Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), thanked the Akwa Ibom Government for taking the responsibility of projecting the potentials of the state outside the petroleum resources, saying that the infrastructural facilities of the state would assist in the take-off of the Ibaka Deep Seaport.

Earlier, the Chairman of Nigerian Ports Consultative Council, Otunba Kunle Folarin lauded the Akwa Ibom State Governor for taking the initiative in hosting the meeting and pledged to assist in unlocking the maritime potentials of the state.