- Tinapa FTZ&LR, Bakassi Deep seaport on the card
Ben Eguzozie
Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River has approached the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Bashir Adewale Adeniyi to extract the service’s cooperation in steps to ramp up the state’s export activities. On the card are the idle $600 million Tinapa Free Trade Zone and Leisure Resort and incoming Bakassi Deep Seaport, proposed off the shore of Esighi in Ekpri-Ikang, estimated to cost between $1.7 billion and $2 billion.
Otu emphasized the intention of Cross River State Government to ramp up export activities and sought Customs’ expertise in facilitating seamless export procedures for local producers and genuine businesspeople in the state.
The Cross River governor shared updates with the Customs comptroller-general Adeniyi on ongoing economic initiatives, including the development of the Bakassi Deep Seaport, stressing the vital role of Customs in ensuring their success. He appealed for enhanced Customs presence and operations to inject life into the economic zones in the state; particularly Tinapa Free Zone and the Calabar Free Trade Zone.
Tinapa, with its 80,000 square metres (861,000 square feet) of warehouses and shops, cost $450 million to build. It was built as an international centre of commerce and tourism in a free-trade zone. But it has become a financial black hole for the state government, its major backer.
Development economists and financial experts believe Nigeria’s federal government clearly lacked the political will to make Tinapa project succeed. Till date, it has yet to formulate a germane trade policy needed to lift the resort from the doldrums. Under the Tinapa business resort model, goods were supposed to be exempt from import duties in Tianapa free-trade zone. However, from the beginning, the Nigeria Customs Service — with a notoriety for rampant corruption — blocked containers destined for Tinapa in the seaports. This hugely paralysed business for the resort.
However, some other business experts adduce that Tinapa’s downfall was largely because of a lack of existing support infrastructure to transport goods such as: bad roads and an average-sized seaport. The project was conceived with a deep seaport, which was supposed to enable big ships birth in Calabar.
The Bakassi Deep Seaport was planned to support Tinapa, helping to bring in big ships to Calabar, the resort’s operational city. Today, Governor Otu is working to get the deep seaport off the ground with a $3.5 billion mandate facility secured from African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).
In a response, the Customs comptroller-general Adeniyi, appreciates the state government’s recognition and support. He detailed recent initiatives by the Customs to improve trade facilitation, such as the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) program and the Advanced Ruling System (ARS), which he said have significantly enhanced Nigeria’s trade environment.
He said these reforms contributed to the Customs’ improved performance ranking in the assessment by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).
Adeniyi assured Governor Otu that the NCS was committed to supporting Cross River government’s economic vision through efficient customs procedures, particularly at Tinapa Free Trade Zone and Leisure Resort and the upcoming Bakassi Deep Seaport.
“Our trade facilitation programmes were designed from the blueprint provided by the President (Bola Tinubu) in his policy advisory document at the inception of the administration.
Otu and Adeniyi hope that the new strengthened partnership would yield significant dividends for economic development, national security, and revenue generation.
