The Nigerian Institution of Marine Engineers and Naval Architects (NIMENA) has called for a coordinated national innovation agenda to address technical skills gaps, improve access to funding and strengthen indigenous technology development in Nigeria’s maritime and energy sectors.

The call followed the launch of the Maritime and Energy Ecosystem Capability Model (ECM) assessment, developed in collaboration with global innovation platform Plug and Play, to evaluate the sectors’ innovation capacity and identify areas requiring improvement.

The report classified Nigeria’s maritime and energy innovation ecosystem as “Emerging”, with an overall maturity score of 43.75 out of 100, citing fragmented initiatives, weak industry collaboration and difficulties translating research into commercially viable products.

NIMENA National Chairman, Engr. Dr Eferebo I. Sylvanus, FNSE, said isolated innovation programmes across the public and private sectors limited their collective impact, calling for a common framework to coordinate development efforts.

“While national startup acceleration programmes across the public and private sectors are laudable, working in isolation limits our collective impact,” Sylvanus said.

He added that the assessment provided a framework for aligning government agencies, businesses, universities, investors and startups around shared priorities.

The ECM assessment examined five areas: access to capital, institutional and international networks, talent and entrepreneurial culture, innovation initiatives, and regulatory conditions.

According to the report, regulations emerged as Nigeria’s strongest dimension, while network development and society-related factors recorded the lowest scores, pointing to gaps in collaboration, specialised skills development and talent retention.

The assessment identified three major challenges: the difficulty of equipping young Nigerians with industry-ready skills, limited connections between corporate demand and the capabilities of local technology companies, and inconsistent implementation of policies and funding mechanisms.

It noted that indigenous technology firms often struggled to secure commercial contracts, limiting their ability to attract investment and develop the technical capacity needed to compete for business opportunities.

To address these challenges, the report recommended prioritising practical skills development and the adoption of locally developed technologies across maritime and energy value chains.

It identified remote condition monitoring, digital twins and virtual asset management as areas where local expertise could be strengthened.

The report also compared Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem with those of Kenya, Egypt, South Africa and Singapore, examining their approaches to investment, institutional coordination, talent development and innovation support.

Among its proposals is the establishment of a Maritime and Energy Innovation Hub to connect startups and technology developers with industry challenges, pilot projects, investors and international partners.

The report outlined a five-year roadmap for developing the proposed hub into a national platform for coordinating innovation across the two sectors.

Other recommendations include dedicated funding for maritime and energy startups, improved investor engagement, clearer regulatory pathways, supervised testing environments for emerging technologies and a Maritime Skills Activation Framework to align education and professional certification with industry requirements.

The assessment proposed measuring progress through outcomes such as increased investment in maritime ventures, more commercial contracts for startups, greater participation of graduates in technology businesses and stronger collaboration between public and private institutions.

It set a target of moving Nigeria’s maritime and energy innovation ecosystem from the “Emerging” category to “Advanced” by 2030.

Sylvanus said NIMENA would transmit the report to relevant government institutions and professional bodies for consideration as a policy advisory document.

The intended recipients include the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the Nigerian Society of Engineers, the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, and the National Assembly.

The proposed measures are aimed at improving the commercialisation of research, strengthening local technical capacity and increasing the participation of Nigerian businesses in maritime and energy value chains.