What Nigeria must do to unlock its marine and blue economy

With 853 kilometres of coastline and vast inland waterways, Nigeria’s marine and blue economy remains a largely untapped goldmine, capable of diversifying revenue, creating jobs, and boosting industrialisation if long-standing bottlenecks are addressed, experts say

While nations like Norway, Canada, and South Africa have harnessed their blue economies, encompassing maritime trade, aquaculture, coastal tourism, and clean ocean energy, Nigeria lags behind due to regulatory chaos, infrastructure gaps, and funding shortfalls.

Regulatory overlaps and stalled reforms

The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), in its Industrial Policy Commission (IndPC) stressed the urgent need to streamline conflicting mandates among regulatory agencies including the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Shippers’ Council, National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Navy and Customs.

The group identified a “lack of institutional coordination and weak enforcement of maritime and environmental regulations” as a continued roadblock to real progress in the sector.

“Laws collide,” said Kashimana Tsumba, chair of the maritime committee at the Nigerian Bar Association’s section on Business Law. “We have the structures, we just need to streamline and implement properly,” she added during the presentation over the weekend.

In Nigeria’s maritime sector, NIMASA oversees maritime safety, security, and pollution control, The NPA is charged with managing port operations and infrastructure, while the NSC regulates economic activities within ports, ensuring fair pricing and trade facilitation. However, their activities often intersect and conflicting mandates can lead to inefficiencies.

“A concerted effort will be more impactful,” said Tsumba. “Regulators should work together. We must advocate for an intergovernmental task force,” she said.

Reforms like the Nigeria Shipping and Port Economic Regulatory Agency Bill seek to address these overlaps but have dragged feet at parliament. Critics argue that the bill lacks clarity in defining its core purpose and risks creating a mega-agency with excessive oversight powers.

“Many outstanding bills that haven’t seen the light of day,” Tsumba said. These include the Ports and Harbour bill, the Merchant Shipping Act, and the Fisheries Act to combat illegal and unregulated fishing.

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Security risks

Piracy, oil theft, and illegal bunkering and weak enforcement of safety measures, including lifejacket compliance, deter investment in Nigeria’s marine sector, NESG reported.

The Gulf of Guinea, including Nigeria’s waters, has been a hotspot for piracy, with attacks on vessels leading to financial losses and security concerns. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL)reported that Nigeria loses an estimated 470,000 barrels of crude oil daily, amounting to $700 million monthly, due to oil theft and pipeline vandalism.

The group said the marine ministry must strengthen security and infrastructure to protect businesses and individuals on Nigeria’s waterways.

Fixing port infrastructure and access woes

Nigeria’s ports, critical to maritime trade, face structural and logistical challenges that continue to undermine their efficiency and competitiveness.

For one, shallow draft channels limit the capacity of vessels that can dock at most ports, forcing many larger ships to berth in neighbouring countries. This not only drives up logistics costs for Nigerian importers and exporters but also drains foreign exchange as vessel repairs and other maritime services are outsourced abroad.

Then there’s the perennial gridlock in Apapa, Lagos’ major port hub, which remains emblematic of Nigeria’s infrastructural paralysis. Choked by trucks and tankers, the access roads have become virtually impassable, with rail and barging alternatives still underutilised.

“Apapa has become a forest of trucks,” Tsumba said, while noting how the absence of multimodal transport systems frustrates cargo movement and makes the area uninhabitable for residents and businesses alike.

Attempts to modernise port infrastructure through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) have also faltered. Experts note that investors are increasingly wary of opaque procurement processes and poor return on investment frameworks.

NESG’s report noted that the country needs urgent investment in dredging, port automation, and intermodal connectivity, including road, rail, and barging infrastructure, to reduce turnaround time and attract meaningful maritime traffic.

Financial pressure

High perceived risks and short-term loan structures have limited domestic financing. “Shipping is risky, banks don’t want to take the risk. We need grants,” the report noted.

With little access to long-term capital, operators rely on Afrexim and IFC loans, as blue bonds and dynamic capital markets remain underdeveloped.

Insecurity has pushed up insurance costs, while the lack of ship repair facilities forces vessel owners abroad, resulting in foreign exchange losses.

Experts say the government must increase budgetary allocation to the sector, address financial barriers like high interest rates, and promote fiscal incentives.

Collaborations with institutions like Sealink and NEXIM were proposed to create investment platforms targeting maritime logistics, fisheries, and port-linked value chains.

Meanwhile, Nigerian shipowners await the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) in August to encourage local acquisition and building of ships as the country seeks to scrap waivers of foreign vessels.

However, despite spending heavily on training, there are few jobs to absorb new entrants.

The group says the ministry must enable scholarships and grants as the neglect of academia in capacity-building efforts has created a gap between training and employment.

The potential of a thriving blue economy goes beyond revenue at customs. Kashimana Tsumba advocates for investments in offshore energy, tourism through cruise ships, and aquaculture.

“We can afford it, but there’s not enough knowledge about its potential. I think it will help if the government look in the direction,” she said