THE REAL REASON THEY WANT TO CHANGE THE LOCATION 

THE REAL REASON THEY WANT TO CHANGE THE LOCATION 

By Ubong Rich — Founder, RichNation Global LTD

“Why Did They Move The Port? — The Question Every Akwa Ibom Person Should Be Asking Right Now”

“They changed the name, and everyone started fighting. But while you were fighting about the name, they quietly moved the entire port to a different location. And THAT is the real crime.”

I need you to forget the name argument for one minute.

Forget Ibaka. Forget Ibom. Forget what it is called.

I want to ask you one simple question that nobody in our state media, nobody in our government, and nobody in our traditional ruler circles is asking loudly enough.

Why did they move the location of the port?

That one question — if you chase it honestly — will show you everything.

WHAT YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND FIRST

Ibaka in Mbo Local Government Area was the ORIGINAL approved site for this deep seaport.

And Ibaka was not chosen by accident or by sentiment. It was chosen because it sits on a NATURAL deep water channel. Ships can sail in without any major dredging. The water depth is already there. God put it there.

This made Ibaka the most logical, most cost-effective, most engineering-sensible location for a deep seaport on the entire Akwa Ibom coastline.

The Oron people knew this. The Mbo people knew this. The federal government knew this. The original investors knew this.

Everyone agreed. The site was set.

Then something changed.

THEN CAME THE “TECHNICAL COMMITTEE”

The state government set up a technical committee to review port locations.

The committee looked at five sites — Oron, Tom Shot, Okposo, West Point, and a place called Seaside.

They came back and said Seaside is the best location.

They abandoned the natural deep water site at Ibaka.

They chose a site that does NOT have natural deep water.

And to make the new site work, they introduced something called a DUGOUT DEEP SEAPORT — meaning they now want to physically DIG the seabed to create artificial depth where natural depth does not exist.

Read that again slowly.

They want to ABANDON a site where the water is already naturally deep.

And go to a new site where they will spend extra billions DIGGING to create the depth that Ibaka already has for free.

NOW ASK YOURSELF THE QUESTION I AM ASKING

Why would any honest government do that?

Why would any legitimate technical committee recommend that?

Why would you leave a naturally deep site and go and pay contractors billions to dig an artificial one?

In any country where accountability exists, that decision alone would trigger a parliamentary investigation, a corruption probe and arrests.

In Akwa Ibom, it triggered a name change argument.

Because they needed you angry about the wrong thing.

HERE IS WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS WHEN GOVERNMENT PROJECTS MOVE LOCATION IN NIGERIA

I want to educate you because this is important.

When a billion-dollar infrastructure project suddenly moves from Location A to Location B in Nigeria — it is almost never because of engineering.

It is because of land.

Before the official announcement of the new location, certain powerful people have already quietly acquired land around that new site. Land that was worth almost nothing yesterday. Land that will be worth billions tomorrow once the port announcement is made official.

This is called land speculation, and it is one of the oldest corruption tools in Nigerian governance.

The project moves. Land value at the new site explodes. The connected people who bought that land quietly become billionaires. And the original community — in this case Oron and Mbo people — are left with broken promises and a press release full of technical language they cannot challenge.

Now go and find out who owns land around the new Seaside location in Akwa Ibom.

I cannot tell you the names in this post. But the right journalist asking that question in the right place will open a very dark door.

AND THE DUGOUT PORT MAKES IT WORSE

A dugout port — where you have to dredge and excavate the seabed to create artificial depth — costs an enormous amount more than building on a naturally deep site.

We are talking about potentially hundreds of millions of extra dollars in construction cost.

Now, in a country with good governance, that extra cost would be a reason to REJECT the new location.

But in our own situation, that extra cost is not a problem.

It is the attraction.

Because a bigger construction budget means bigger contracts. Bigger contracts mean bigger commissions. Bigger commissions mean more money shared among the men who made the decision to move the location in the first place.

Ibaka was too cheap. Too efficient. Too straightforward.

And straightforward does not make anybody rich in the Nigerian contracting system.

THE COMMUNITY ANGER IS REAL BUT MISDIRECTED

I want to be careful here because I have deep respect for Oron Nation and the Mbo people.

Their anger is completely justified.

A port was promised on their land. On their waterway. Using their natural resource. And it is being taken away and given to another location.

That is real. That pain is legitimate.

But the anger is being directed at a name change and at ethnic arguments — when it should be directed at the land speculators, the contractors, and the technical committee members who recommended this change.

Find out who sat on that technical committee.

Find out what those people own.

Find out who paid for their education, their cars, their children’s school fees before and after that committee report was submitted.

That is where the real crime lives.

Not in the name Ibaka or Ibom.

BOLLORÉ LEFT BECAUSE OF THIS — NOT JUST THE PROTESTS

Bolloré is an experienced African port operator. They have worked in countries far more unstable than Akwa Ibom State.

Experienced investors do not run from community protests alone.

They run when they see that a project’s technical foundation is being manipulated. When they see that location decisions are not being made on engineering merit. When they see that the people making decisions have personal financial interests in those decisions.

That is what Bolloré saw.

And they left.

And now we have to start the investor search all over again — which means more consultancy fees, more foreign trips, more “investor summits” in Lagos hotels, all paid from Akwa Ibom state funds.

 THE GOVERNMENT KNOWS YOU WILL NOT ASK THE RIGHT QUESTION

That is the painful truth.

They changed the name knowing it would cause anger.

They released the technical report in a language most people cannot interrogate.

They allowed the community fight to dominate the conversation.

Because as long as Oron people and Mbo people and Ibibio people are fighting each other on Facebook and at press conferences — nobody is asking who owns land at Seaside. Nobody is auditing the technical committee. Nobody is following the money.

And in Nigerian politics, the moment nobody is following the money — the money disappears.

WHAT MUST HAPPEN NOW

If there is any Akwa Ibom journalist, lawyer, civil society leader, or National Assembly member reading this —

Demand an independent audit of the technical committee report.

Demand a land registry search around the new Seaside location.

Demand to know who has been paid, how much, and for what since this project began.

Demand transparency on what happened between the state government and Bolloré before they withdrew.

Because the seaport is not dead yet. But it is on life support. And the same people who put it there are standing next to the plug.

MY FINAL WORD

The Ibom Deep Seaport was moved from a natural deep water site to an artificial dugout site.

That decision alone cost us more money, cost us Bolloré, cost us years, and cost our coastal communities their promised future.

It was not a technical decision.

It was a financial decision made by people who will never need a seaport because they have already stolen enough to live comfortably for three generations.

And they used our pride, our identity, and our community loyalty as the smoke screen.

Akwa Ibom deserves better.

Our coastline deserves better.

Our children deserve better.

Share this post if you want answers. Not arguments. ANSWERS.

Written by an Akwa Ibom son who refuses to look away. – Ubong Rich

Continue Reading

• →The Ibom Deep Seaport Will Never Be Built, and Here Is Every Reason Why
• →Reason the Oron People are demanding a separate state
• → Why The Government Does Not Take the Oron People Seriously

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