Youths of Akwa Ibom State origin have been encouraged to upgrade themselves in relevant skills in order to occupy strategic positions during the construction and eventual operation of Ibom Deep Seaport and industrial city in the State.
Recall that the Federal Executive Council on Wednesday gave an approval for the construction of the Seaport which its first phase will gulp about $2.016 Billion.
The Commissioner for Economic Development and Ibom Deep Seaport, Mr Akan Okon in a chat with Journalists in Uyo on Monday said the first phase would generate at least 300,000 jobs while 3,500 companies would operate in the seaport by the end of 2023.
He therefore enjoined the youths to take advantage of the emerging opportunities by acquiring relevant skills saying that employment in the sector would be skill specific.
His words, “Akwa Ibom youths should position themselves to advantage of the emerging opportunities . Therefore, there is need for us to strategically position ourselves, update ourselves with the relevant skills because every industry has it own basic skills of requirement.
He added that government should not be left alone to train the youths rather everybody including the parents should ensure that their wards acquire needed skills so as to occupy strategic positions.
On when the first phase of the Seaport would be operational , the commissioner said the State government was targeting before 2023 ending as it together with the preferred bidder, Bollore ChinaPower Consortium had already undertaken some technical aspects of the port development before the approval.
He hinted that the State government would provide 40% of the funds while the preferred bidder provides 60% expressing hope that the core investors would use their experience and connection to attract business and more investors to the seaport.
Speaking on the makeup of the Seaport Okon said, “the advantage of Ibom Deep Seaport is in its natural location. It has a draft of 18m without dredging and has a turning basin of 600m and designed for vessels that can carry 120,000 Dead Weight Tonnage and will have 10 terminals.
“So it can actually allow for another vessel to come in without waiting for the first vessel to be discharged. So it is actually wide. So it can allow one big vessel to go in and another one to come in at the same time because 600m is the size of six football fields.
“It is also designed to be a trans shipping port. In other words goods meant for neighbouring African countries can be transhipped from here using smaller vessels.”
