ICRC Gets FG’s Approval To Implement N866.1bn Security, Ibom Sea Port Projects

The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission has received the approval of the Federal Executive Council to implement the National Public Security Communications project and the Ibom Deep Seaport project.

Both projects are expected to attract the sum of N866.1bn investment into the economy.

The ICRC said in a statement on Monday that the approval for the Full Business Case Compliance Certificates for the projects has set the stage for contract signing and implementation through Public Private Partnership.

The National Public Security Communications Project is a Public Private Partnership between the Ministry of Police Affairs and MPS Technologies Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle incorporated by Mobitel Limited to manage the Concession.

This follows the satisfaction of the conditions prescribed in the ICRC Act, 2005 and the National Policy on Public Private Partnership.

The ICRC said the project is premised on a Finance, Build, Operate and Transfer arrangement, and would combine the network’s 450MHz spectrum with MPS’s 2300Mhz (2.3GHz) spectrum among other assets.

The concession will result in an initial investment of N37.4bn and an additional N66.9bn in capital expenditure investment in the nation’s economy over the 30-year span.

When the project takes off, the ICRC said it would deliver enhanced security and communication services for the Nigerian Police Force, related agencies and commercial telecommunication entities.

The ICRC said, “The project is a potential game changer in the fight against insurgency and other forms of crime across the country including the enhancement of the capacity of state divisions of the Nigeria Police.

“This is in addition to the creation of over 8,000 direct jobs for Nigerians. Among the many service offerings of the project include the provision of CCTV to aid surveillance, E-Policing subsystem, Video Surveillance Subsystem, and Coalition Emergency Response Subsystem.

“A good number of agencies stand to benefit from this novel project in enhancing their operations apart from the Nigerian Police Force. They include the Nigerian Correctional Service, Nigeria Customs Service, National Drug law Enforcement Agency, Federal Road Safety Commission, Federal Fire Service among others.”

For the Ibom Deep Seaport which is located in the South-East of Akwa Ibom, the ICRC said its concession was granted to Bolloré-Africa PCI Consortium in line with the guidelines set out in the ICRC Act, 2005 and the National Policy on Public Private Partnership for a 50-year period.

The Commission stated that the project, which is to be developed using the Design- Finance-Build-Operate and Transfer methodology, would lead to the injection of $2.01bn (N761,79bn) into the nation’s economy, with Phase 1A estimated to cost $1.33bn (N504.07bn) while Phase 1B is in the $679,322 (N257.46m).

The Port facility is expected to become the Eastern Gateway of Nigeria, providing vital port capacity for the country. The project is jointly owned by the Federal Government; Akwa Ibom state Government and private investors will serve to augment Nigeria’s existing port capacity.

The project would also accelerate industrialization and general economic activity in the South region.

The ICRC said, “A key benefit of this will be the reduction of youth restiveness in the Niger Delta through the creation of thousands of new jobs for the youths.

“Additionally, the Ibom Deep Sea Port will serve the South, South East and North Central regions by providing an alternative route to the otherwise land locked North East region, providing access to regional and international trade.

“It is projected to provide the much-needed container handling and storage capacity, import capacity for petroleum products, provide import capacity for vehicles and provide dedicated import capacity for food and agricultural products.”

The project would also provide dedicated export capacity for industrial output and natural resources and be a logistics base and regional trading hub in West Africa.