Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs and ad-hoc Committee on Ports, Yusuf Buba Yakub, has called on the Federal Government to grant Cross River State a sovereign guarantee to ensure the construction of the Bakassi deep seaport.
Yakub, who led members of his committee on a courtesy call on Governor Ben Ayade, said the Bakassi Deep Seaport project should not be seen as that of the state, but rather as one that would benefit the entire country, especially northern Nigeria and neighbouring countries of Chad and Niger republics.
The committee was in the state as part of their oversight functions to investigate why ports in the eastern part of the country were not functioning optimally.
He applauded Ayade for also initiating the 275-kilometre six-lane superhighway as a solution to the road connectivity between Cross River and the northern parts of the country and neighbouring countries as an evacuation corridor for the deep seaport.
Making a plea for a sovereign guarantee from the president through recommendations by the visiting committee, Ayade said: “Cross River has 58 percent of the entire forest cover of this country. If you took our oil wells by force, took our land by force, if you ceded our territory by force and we never fought back, the sovereign guarantee which is a signature is just not too much to grant.”