Vice President Kashim Shettima pledged to prioritize the Bakassi Deep Seaport at a Calabar campaign rally Monday, Nov. 2, renewing attention on a major port project still awaiting construction, BusinessDay reported.
BusinessDay said Shettima presented the port as a future international maritime gateway. The outlet reported the pledge at an All Progressives Congress rally.
Cross River State’s Oct. 21 announcement, released alongside its 2027 budget, said the port had federal approval and a Certificate of Compliance, but construction had yet to begin. The announcement gave no start date. The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) said the port was among state-initiated projects approved for public-private partnership development in December 2025.
State records offer different estimates for expected private investment. An Oct. 21 announcement put the amount at about $3.5 billion, while a Cross River bulletin about the December 2025 federal approval cited about $2.27 billion. Neither account explains whether the estimates cover different project scopes.
The ICRC says the port is intended to widen cargo flows from western ports while serving eastern Nigeria. Cross River’s public-private partnership portal lists a proposed 275-kilometer, six-lane toll highway as an initial part of the port’s logistics corridor. State project information describes an 18-meter port depth and a 275-kilometer road-and-rail evacuation corridor, with the facility intended to accommodate large ships; these are planned features, not operating results.
Cross River’s fiscal framework lists possible public obligations, including an upfront capital subsidy, service payments, revenue or traffic guarantees, and termination payments. It assigns no amounts to those potential commitments.
Bakassi featured among the proposed deep-sea sites in EconoTimes’ earlier report on Nigeria’s port development plans. Cross River’s latest update said construction was still pending and gave no start date.
