Tinubu, represented by Shettima, flags off $3.5bn Bakassi Deep Seaport in Cross River

President Bola Tinubu has flagged off the $3.5 billion Bakassi Deep Seaport in Cross River State, in a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday that was attended by Vice President Kashim Shettima on his behalf. Voice of Nigeria, Arise News and The Fact reported that the project revives hopes for a deep seaport in the state after decades of false starts.

In his message, Tinubu said he was not in Calabar "to cut a ribbon and dance Ekpe masquerade" but to "break ground and break centuries-old jinx." He added, "Many people believed this port would never happen. They said it would be a pipe dream. They said Bakassi would only be remembered for what we lost. Today, we answer them with a shovel, with concrete, with steel, and with hope."

The president used the occasion to reject a rumour that Lagos or Abuja never wanted a port to work outside Lagos. "If that were true, would I be standing here today with a shovel in my hand? Lagos is not our enemy," he said, calling Lagos the country's elder brother in trade. He argued that with over 80 per cent of foreign trade passing through Lagos alone, congestion builds, ships queue, goods are delayed and prices rise in markets as far as Calabar, Onitsha and Maiduguri. "This project is not against Lagos. It is for Nigeria," he said.

According to the message, the project was first envisioned in the colonial era and re-engineered in 2014, with its Environmental and Social Impact Assessment completed in March 2015. It centres on a deep seaport with a 20-metre draft, described as designed to be among the largest in Africa and to receive the giant vessels that now bypass Nigerian waters. It will be paired with a 260-kilometre superhighway as an evacuation corridor so cargo landing in Bakassi can move to the North, East and West.

The Fact reported that the idea drifted for years until Governor Bassey Otu gave it new life. The $3.5 billion was secured from Afreximbank, and in February 2025 the state formalised a public private partnership. Tinubu said the federal government now stands fully behind the project, which he called a Nigerian project and not only a Cross River dream.

The president also framed the port as part of a wider blue economy plan, which he described as a multitrillion naira opportunity, and said the aim is a decentralised and competitive maritime sector. Arise News described the flag-off as the start of construction, not just another announcement.

What the reports did not give is a completion date or a breakdown of the financing terms beyond the Afreximbank figure, and the ceremony does not guarantee that the port will be finished on schedule. The test will be whether construction moves from the groundbreaking to steel and concrete, and whether the highway and port are delivered together as planned.