The recent publication in The Guide Newspaper, Vol. 9 Number 126 of Wednesday 14 January – Tuesday 20 January 2026, alleging “fraud” in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Akwa Ibom State Government and INTERAF Group over the Ibom Deep Seaport project is a textbook example of sensationalism triumphing over substance. It is loud with insinuations, yet hollow in its grasp of how governments, investment frameworks, and large-scale infrastructure projects actually function.
First, a fundamental clarification must be firmly stated: an MoU is not an execution contract. It is neither an award of work nor a financial commitment to commence construction. An MoU is, by definition, a preliminary instrument (a statement of intent that outlines areas of cooperation, opens channels for engagement, attracts investor interest, and establishes a framework for feasibility studies, due diligence, negotiations, and potential future agreements). To deliberately conflate an MoU with project execution is either a profound misunderstanding of governance processes or a calculated attempt to mislead the public.
The fixation on the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) registration date of INTERAF Group further exposes the intellectual fragility of the report. While it is true that INTERAF Group was formally registered on Monday, 22 December 2025, under CAC registration number 9110761, company registration marks only the legal commencement of a corporate structure, not the beginning (or limitation) of professional competence. Globally, companies are routinely incorporated as Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) or consortium entities specifically to undertake particular projects in infrastructure, ports, energy, and Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). This is standard international practice, not an anomaly peculiar to Akwa Ibom.
What critics conveniently omit is that INTERAF Group is not a start-up operating in isolation. It was registered as a consortium and holding structure, reflecting the formal convergence of several professionally active and sector-experienced subsidiaries assembled for coordinated participation in the Ibom Deep Seaport project and related undertakings. These include, among others, INTERAF Assets Management Limited, INTERAF Infrastructure Company Limited, INTERAF Engineering Company Limited, INTERAF Power Development Company Limited, INTERAF Farms Limited, and Net Zero Energy Limited. Each of these entities has existed independently, with operational histories, sectoral competencies, and governance frameworks relevant to infrastructure delivery, engineering, energy systems, asset management, and sustainability.
The Group structure provides a coordination and oversight framework through which strategic control is exercised, while subsidiaries retain their legal identities, management autonomy, and financial structures. This model is globally accepted for risk management, capital structuring, regulatory efficiency, and project scalability, especially in capital-intensive ventures such as deep seaports.
More importantly, projects are not executed by certificates of incorporation; they are executed by people. What delivers a deep seaport is the depth of technical expertise (engineers, maritime specialists, financiers, legal advisers, logistics professionals, and global partners) mobilized behind a project. The age of a CAC registration has never built a port anywhere in the world. Every reputable multinational operating today once had a “registration date” and, at inception, no portfolio of completed mega-projects.
Contrary to insinuations of superficiality, INTERAF Group’s corporate filings reveal an authorised share capital of 100,000,000 shares, a scale that signals seriousness of intent, financial foresight, and alignment with the capital demands of a deep seaport project. These are facts that would have surfaced easily had even minimal investigative diligence been applied.
The argument that a company must first parade a catalogue of completed projects before it can sign an MoU betrays a shallow understanding of investment ecosystems. Governments sign MoUs precisely to invite investors, test interest, open negotiations, and stimulate confidence. Many MoUs do not mature into projects (and that outcome is not fraud; it is process). That is how investment filtering works.
Equally misleading is the suggestion that the Akwa Ibom State Government acted secretly or deceptively. MoUs routinely precede the public disclosure of detailed timelines, financing structures, and implementation models because these elements are refined only after feasibility studies, negotiations, and regulatory engagements. Transparency does not mean publishing speculative figures or half-baked projections to appease political critics; it means releasing information responsibly and at the appropriate stage.
The Ibom Deep Seaport itself is a flagship Public-Private Partnership project conceived as a major maritime gateway for West and Central Africa. With its deep natural draft, integrated industrial city, and transshipment potential, it is designed to decongest existing ports, catalyze industrialization, create employment, and expand regional trade. Such a project naturally demands technical expertise, long-term capital commitment, regulatory compliance, and structured consortium participation (criteria that align squarely with the multi-sectoral competencies embedded within INTERAF’s consortium framework).
It is also instructive to note that in sectors such as oil and gas (Nigeria’s 2025 licensing bid round inclusive) newly registered companies, SPVs, and consortia are routinely allowed to participate, provided their shareholders or partners meet pre-qualification thresholds. Infrastructure PPPs operate on the same principle globally.
Furthermore, the involvement of the Akwa Ibom Investment Corporation (AKICORP), the state’s designated investment promotion and industrial development agency, provides an additional layer of institutional screening and due process. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that procedural safeguards were observed before the MoU was executed.
Attempts to politicize the Ibom Deep Seaport by tying it to sweeping claims about federal politics or partisan pessimism are intellectually dishonest. Major infrastructure projects are driven by layered negotiations, regulatory approvals, investor confidence, and long-term planning — not by newspaper alarmism or ideological soundbites.
Governor Umo Eno’s administration did what responsible governments do: it opened a door for investment. Signing an MoU is not deception; it is initiative. It is not fraud; it is foresight. Those who genuinely desire the realization of the Ibom Deep Seaport should promote rigorous scrutiny, informed debate, and fact-based criticism (not weaponized ignorance disguised as investigative journalism).
Akwa Ibom people deserve facts, not fear.
They deserve clarity, not calculated confusion.
And above all, they deserve a public discourse anchored in knowledge, not noise.
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Thomas Thomas, Ph.D — the Personal Assistant to the Governor of Akwa Ibom State on Local Media, writes from Tuskers Republic, Uyo.
