The new Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority NPA, Hajia Hadiza Bala Usman has launched a probe on how the sum of 56 million dollars was spent by the previous management on Calabar Channel dredging. “I have informed the management that we are going to have technical sessions next week to determine the level of dredging said to have been done.”

“We are looking at the dredging critically, as the money we have spent on capital dredging is not translating to the amount we are spending on maintenance dredging. The cost of maintenance should not be that high, so we are asking for full data. It’s time we flashed our light on capital dredging and maintenance dredging and why we spend so much money and where it is going to.”

“We have requested for the hydrographic service carried out from the onset. The documents will help in determining the way forward around Calabar Channel management. We believe there is a critical need to resolve this issue so that the draft can be made deeper and we can have more vessels coming into Calabar. We looked backwards to see what went wrong as it relates to capital and maintenance dredging and indeed the works that Calabar Channel Management was said to have embarked upon in 2015.”

“The critical issue about Calabar port has to do with the dredging of the channel; the draft needs to be deeper to ensure we attract more vessels. We need to jointly work to bring commercial activities into the state. We have discussed with the state government. We would seek support from the Federal Ministry of Works as regards the federal roads that link Cross River State with other states. We would also work with the Ministry of Trade and Investment to ensure that the trade routes within the Gulf of Guinea and the North East part of the country is revived.”

It is interesting to know that the dredging of Calabar Port Channel contract was awarded for $56 million in 200 and another contract was awarded in November 2014 at N20 billion to complete the project. Yet, the project is uncompleted.