The Akwa Ibom State government has assured host communities of the Ibom Deep Seaport project that they would be carried along in all stages of the project including operation.
The commissioner for economic development and Ibom deep Seaport, Mr. Akan Okon gave the assurance when he led officials of his ministry and the technical committee on the project on a courtesy call on the paramount ruler of Ibeno, HRM Effiong Bassey Archanga at his palace in Ibeno on Saturday.
Okon said the essence of the visit was to get feedback from stakeholders of host communities concerning the design of the project.
“The reason for this visit is to obtain the feedback and opinion of the stakeholders regarding the design of the project.
“We are here to start on the right note. We want to ensure that at the end of this meeting we have stakeholders’ support for this project and this will not be the last community engagement; it is going to be a continuous process until the project is completed,” he said.
Okon stated that inputs from all stakeholders will help in the environmental impact assessment and assess the social performance of the project.
He added that the people-oriented approach was a strategy to ensure seamless execution and operation of the project.
“Investment and capital, that is money, is a coward and will not go to where there is a problem.
As such, this project is a public-private partnership model needs to have the backing of the people so that we can have a seamless and peaceful operation,” the commissioner said.
He further said that the meeting was to deliberate on the system of consultation and grievances handling mechanism.
Besides, he said it was important to take into consideration the views of stakeholders at every stage of the project.
The commissioner described Ibeno as the “most peaceful oil-producing community in Nigeria” and expressed confidence in peaceful resolution of any conflict that may arise in the course of the deep seaport project.
Also speaking, the chairperson of the technical committee on Ibom Deep Seaport, Mrs. Mfon Usoro, explained the location, design and other technical information about the project.
She described the project as a blessing to Akwa Ibom as it will create over 300, 000 direct jobs when it commences operation.
She asked for support from Ibeno people saying maximum acceptability will go a long way to ensure the project is more attractive than similar competing projects across the country.
In his remarks, the paramount ruler thanked the state government for taking pragmatic steps to bring the deep seaport project to reality after many years.
“The Ibom deep seaport project is very dear to Ibeno people and we ask that the project be handled with efficiency in order to reap its benefits when operational,” he added.
However, he said Ibeno had been a victim of oil and gas exploration in the past and “has learnt hard lessons as such any project in the area should, first of all, have a functional EIA/MoU and an operational MoU with Ibeno people.”
He also made a case for adequate compensation for relocation of affected people and property, good community relationship between investors, contractors and the people, implementation of local content law especially on employment, speedy completion of the Eket – Ibeno road as well as renaming of the project to Ibeno Deep Seaport to reflect the location of the project and honour the contributions of Ibeno people to the project.
