Nigeria’s Blue Economy Can Generate N1trn – Maritime Engineer

National chairman of Nigeria Institution of Maritime Engineers and Naval Architects (NIMENA), Eferebo Sylvanus, has said that Nigeria’s Blue Economy has the capacity to generate over N1 trillion.

Sylvanus stated this at the 14th annual conference of the institution with the theme, “Digital Maritime Transformation and Smart Solutions: A Pathway to the Advancement of Nigeria’s Blue Economy,” held in Port Harcourt at the weekend.

He said Nigeria has one of the most active maritime sectors because of oil and gas business and a long stretch of coastline and inland waters.

Nigeria’s blue economic sector is estimated to have the capacity to generate over One Trillion Naira annually into the national coffers if properly harnessed.

However, lack of clear national policy, poor standardisation and lack of technical sovereignty still threaten actualisation of the full gains of the sector.

He said the sector has the capacity to create millions of jobs for the young population and create enormous wealth for the country.

Sylvanus, however, said the country is missing out on opportunities to unlock the sector because it technically relies on foreign certification and standardisation for its operations.

“If we want to solve unemployment issues in this country and create enormous wealth.
Nigeria has one of the most active maritime sectors in the oil and gas industry. We also have a long coastline; our inland waterways alone span 10,000 kilometres. Then, to crown it all, we also have young talents. So, the problem is not about shortage of talents but a structured pathway, so this conference is an avenue to unlock these potentials.

“Nigeria is losing out in various sectors.

To unlock the potential, we have to be sovereign. We are a sovereign nation, but we are not technically sovereign. We still depend on technical expertise from foreign nations, so we cannot even standardize our tools, we cannot certify our tools, for us to have our engineers or cadets on board, they have to get foreign certification, ” he stated.
The NIMENA national chairman also called for a national vision on maritime development in the country.

“Nigeria has a huge human capital population; it’s now for us to have a structured pathway towards harnessing it. We must also have a national vision for our maritime sector. We must come to a round table and fashion out a vision that will now help us to frame our policies better, ” he added.
Speaking about the conference theme, he said the body is focusing on leveraging digital transformation, and innovative solutions to solve maritime challenges.

In his address, the president of the Council for the Registration of Engineers in Nigeria (COREN), Engr. Prof. Saddiq Abubakar, FNSE, said the Nigerian maritime domain plays a significant role in trade, logistics, energy exports, naval defence, and blue economy development.

He pointed out that, despite this strategic position, Nigeria’s maritime capacity is constrained by the proliferation of substandard marine engines and equipment, a poor maintenance culture, high failure rates of marine machinery, inadequate shipyard capabilities, and limited local content.
Abubakar also cited weak conformity assessment for imported maritime equipment, fragmented enforcement of engineering and marine standards, and insufficient technical regulations for naval machinery as challenges facing the sector.

He said: “These deficits undermine operational efficiency, increase cost, compliance safety, reduce fleet availability and limit Nigeria’s participation in the global maritime value chain,” adding, “strengthening standardization and compliance enforcement is therefore essential for industrial growth, maritime safety, naval protection and global competitiveness”.

He highlighted some benefits of standardisation to Nigeria’s blue economy, including improved durability of Nigerian-built vessels, expansion of local export potentials to local shipyards, and reduced maintenance costs.

The COREN president also emphasized the need to build local capacity and leverage digital services to ease marine operations in the country.

The keynote speaker at the conference, Dr Aladenusi Olugbemiro, emphasized that digital transformation remains essential for Nigeria to build a competitive and globally attractive maritime industry.
He commended NIMENA for playing a crucial leadership role by driving the national conversation from that perspective.