League 25th Anniversary: How FG Can Actualize Marine, Blue Economy Potentials, by Okorefe
OYETOLA
By Francis Ugwoke
For Nigeria to actualize the full potentials of the marine and blue economy, a lot of synergy among ministries and agencies of government and international collaborations would be required by the new Ministry.
A maritime expert, lecturer with the Maritime University of Nigeria (MUN) Okerenkoko, Delta State, Mr Charles Okorefe, said the new Ministry has to identify the relevant Ministries and agencies in different sectors for collaboration.
Okorefe also said that Nigeria would also have to identify nations that have had their economies transformed due to the huge revenue earnings from various activities associated with blue economy.
Okorefe who argued that it was not enough to talk about the marine and blue economy potentials, but to actualize them, said the Ministry must equally be able to identify a niche area as far as marine and blue economy is concerned as is the case in other nations whose economies have been booming as a result of ocean resources.
Speaking on the theme, “Harnessing Nigeria’s Potentials In Marine & Blue Economy” at the 25th Anniversary of the League of Maritime Editors (LOME) held in Lagos, Okerefe while describing the concept of marine and blue economy as transformation of the ocean resources for sustainable development, said when achieved, it will boost the nation’s economy in many ways, including creation of millions of jobs for Nigerians.
He said that among opportunities in marine and blue economy include ocean exploration, deep sea mining and maritime tourism.
He called on the Ministry to reach out to the relevant ministries and agencies to explore opportunities in marine tourism, agriculture, fisheries for sea foods for export purposes instead of depending on imports along.
According to him, Nigeria must be able to identify those resources the nation has in excess that can be processed through the rivers for exports.
He identified Gambia, Egypt, Bahamas, Caribbean, Phillipines, among others. as countries that have benefitted in marine and blue economy by having a niche in different areas.
He said, “We are talking about harnessing Nigeria’s potential in the marine and blue economy. You know, in Nigeria we like to talk about potential, potential, when will these potentials be realized? Everywhere, every sector…potential, potential, energy potential, transport potential, aviation potential. I think the time has come for us to actualize those potentials, especially in this very particular industry of ours.
And I’m so glad that we have somebody who we can look up to as a Minister of Marine and Blue economy, because the Ministers of Transport as was previously constituted was a misnomer and because the marine aspect of that ministry was on that plate. Even though they had the highest number of parastatals in that ministry, if you recall, there was nothing like Ministry of Land Transport, even up to now what you only have is railway. So the question we want to ask is who supervises land and road transport in Nigeria? Nobody! Even up to today what you have are non-state actors, agberos across the states, collecting tickets and buying and selling tickets.
“But coming down to our own side, what is the blue economy? The United Nations defines the blue economy as a sustainable use of ocean for economic growth, improved livelihood while preserving the health of the ocean ecosystem…that is the blue economy. And this concept was popularized by a man called Gunter Pauli. I think he was here sometime last month or something like that, a professor from Belgium. It was his thesis in 2010 where he talked about the blue economy transforming the ocean resources for sustainable development of the world. And he projected that in another 30 years over 100 million jobs could be created through the blue economy system. I don’t know whether that is a mirage or that is possible, but in Nigeria I can tell you that a lot can be harnessed through our marine and the blue economy. Already Nigeria has been a maritime nation for a very long time. We have been running our port systems beginning from where the Port Harcourt port was established in 1912, then the Apapa Port 1924, up to now we have had several ports dotting the landscape of Nigeria where trades are taking place. But the blue economy is deeper than that. We are talking of things like biodiversity, ocean exploration, deep sea mining, cable land activities, maritime tourism. These are things that are absent in Nigeria, if you go to some other parts of the world in small countries like Gambia, for instance, marine tourism is a major source of the national income.
“But in Nigeria we are still very far behind in marine tourism. If you go to the Caribbean, for instance, they don’t have anything. What is their major source of income, marine tourism. People flock the Bahamas, they flock Kurusu and all of those small island nations who have nothing else but the marine environment, raking in billions of dollars. How about Egypt? So do we have the ocean resources, do we have the rivers, do we have the lakes to explore in Nigeria to give us a type of leverage? Yes, we do.
“So the question is, how prepared are we to go the extra mile to get all these things in place so that Nigeria can also put her name on the map of nations that have developed ecotourism? How about renewable energy? We have been talking about problems of power and all of that. We have more than enough gas, how has that helped our power situation over the years? Since we were little children, you’ll be hearing of ‘Up NEPA’ when they restore or bring the light, up till tomorrow, our grand children will still be shouting ‘Up NEPA’.
“But now we have the means to develop renewable energy from our water resources, from our oceans and rivers. So I believe the Ministry of Marine and the Blue Economy has to tie and connect with others, even in agriculture, fisheries. And you also talk about exotic sea food for export purpose. We cannot be dependent on imports alone, what are those things that we have in excess that you can process through the river for export? They are fishes, prawns, other ornamental sea foods. We had the Sapele Port where that was happening, I say was, the port is still there. It was the center for the export of wood products. There’s a company called ATP, African Tiber and Plywood that was a fulcrum of export of wood from Edo forest, Delta forest and so on.
The same thing for rubbers, the same thing for palm oil and its derivatives, but all of those have gone down the drain. Today I learned we import palm oil from Asia. The same people who came to Nigeria to learn how to plant seedlings. Today Nigeria cannot pay salaries, but Nigeria is importing palm oil from Malaysia. These are exportable items. So I believe the Ministry of Marine and Economy has to do a lot of synergy with the Ministry of Agriculture, for instance with the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Tourism. They cannot do it alone because these are resources that we need in order for us to develop and come out of potential to reality in driving our ocean and marine resources.
“We’ve been talking endlessly. The League President talked about the disbursement CVFFs, for how many years are we going to continue to talk about the disburdenment of CVFF? What is the purpose of CVFF? It is meant to assist indigenous operators, ship owners to acquire new bottoms and also other players like those that are into foundries. How are we helping them? How can we grow when these things are not put in place? So the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy has a lot of work to do if our setup under that ministry are to be realized. They have to be put on their toes because a lot is on the ground for offer. And the more we put our act together by bringing together those that can drive the vision of that ministry, the better it will be for them. Now we also look at issues like deep sea mining and biodiversity. These are offerings that we have under the blue economy. So we are talking about this mining, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources for instance will also be an ally of our brand new ministry because there are a lot of synergy that is required for those things that we need to extract and have meaningful returns for the ministry to run properly.
And all of this is talking about job creation because if you are just talking about these issues without looking at the prospect for job creation for Nigerians is also a waste of time. So what is on offer in terms of job creation? All of these areas I’ve mentioned, marine tourism for instance…Egypt made about $14 billion just from tourism alone in 2022. So if you want to bring that to Nigeria, how much did we make even in the past ten years from marine tourism? You cannot even aggregate it because the records are not there. So talking about job creation all of these elements l mentioned are potential areas for job creation, because it is a major issue in Nigeria today. A lot of young people are jobless. Meanwhile, we have an area that is green wherein a lot of jobs can be created. So I think we have to look at that, the potential areas of driving our marine and blue economy in Nigeria, then also shipping and port operation”.
For Nigeria to actualize the full potentials of the marine and blue economy, a lot of synergy among ministries and agencies of government and international collaborations would be required by the new Ministry.
A maritime expert, lecturer with the Maritime University of Nigeria (MUN) Okerenkoko, Delta State, Mr Charles Okorefe, said the new Ministry has to identify the relevant Ministries and agencies in different sectors for collaboration.
Okorefe also said that Nigeria would also have to identify nations that have had their economies transformed due to the huge revenue earnings from various activities associated with blue economy.
Okorefe who argued that it was not enough to talk about the marine and blue economy potentials, but to actualize them, said the Ministry must equally be able to identify a niche area as far as marine and blue economy is concerned as is the case in other nations whose economies have been booming as a result of ocean resources.
Speaking on the theme, “Harnessing Nigeria’s Potentials In Marine & Blue Economy” at the 25th Anniversary of the League of Maritime Editors (LOME) held in Lagos, Okerefe while describing the concept of marine and blue economy as transformation of the ocean resources for sustainable development, said when achieved, it will boost the nation’s economy in many ways, including creation of millions of jobs for Nigerians.
He said that among opportunities in marine and blue economy include ocean exploration, deep sea mining and maritime tourism.
He called on the Ministry to reach out to the relevant ministries and agencies to explore opportunities in marine tourism, agriculture, fisheries for sea foods for export purposes instead of depending on imports along.
According to him, Nigeria must be able to identify those resources the nation has in excess that can be processed through the rivers for exports.
He identified Gambia, Egypt, Bahamas, Caribbean, Phillipines, among others. as countries that have benefitted in marine and blue economy by having a niche in different areas.
He said, “We are talking about harnessing Nigeria’s potential in the marine and blue economy. You know, in Nigeria we like to talk about potential, potential, when will these potentials be realized? Everywhere, every sector…potential, potential, energy potential, transport potential, aviation potential. I think the time has come for us to actualize those potentials, especially in this very particular industry of ours.
And I’m so glad that we have somebody who we can look up to as a Minister of Marine and Blue economy, because the Ministers of Transport as was previously constituted was a misnomer and because the marine aspect of that ministry was on that plate. Even though they had the highest number of parastatals in that ministry, if you recall, there was nothing like Ministry of Land Transport, even up to now what you only have is railway. So the question we want to ask is who supervises land and road transport in Nigeria? Nobody! Even up to today what you have are non-state actors, agberos across the states, collecting tickets and buying and selling tickets.
“But coming down to our own side, what is the blue economy? The United Nations defines the blue economy as a sustainable use of ocean for economic growth, improved livelihood while preserving the health of the ocean ecosystem…that is the blue economy. And this concept was popularized by a man called Gunter Pauli. I think he was here sometime last month or something like that, a professor from Belgium. It was his thesis in 2010 where he talked about the blue economy transforming the ocean resources for sustainable development of the world. And he projected that in another 30 years over 100 million jobs could be created through the blue economy system. I don’t know whether that is a mirage or that is possible, but in Nigeria I can tell you that a lot can be harnessed through our marine and the blue economy. Already Nigeria has been a maritime nation for a very long time. We have been running our port systems beginning from where the Port Harcourt port was established in 1912, then the Apapa Port 1924, up to now we have had several ports dotting the landscape of Nigeria where trades are taking place. But the blue economy is deeper than that. We are talking of things like biodiversity, ocean exploration, deep sea mining, cable land activities, maritime tourism. These are things that are absent in Nigeria, if you go to some other parts of the world in small countries like Gambia, for instance, marine tourism is a major source of the national income.
“But in Nigeria we are still very far behind in marine tourism. If you go to the Caribbean, for instance, they don’t have anything. What is their major source of income, marine tourism. People flock the Bahamas, they flock Kurusu and all of those small island nations who have nothing else but the marine environment, raking in billions of dollars. How about Egypt? So do we have the ocean resources, do we have the rivers, do we have the lakes to explore in Nigeria to give us a type of leverage? Yes, we do.
“So the question is, how prepared are we to go the extra mile to get all these things in place so that Nigeria can also put her name on the map of nations that have developed ecotourism? How about renewable energy? We have been talking about problems of power and all of that. We have more than enough gas, how has that helped our power situation over the years? Since we were little children, you’ll be hearing of ‘Up NEPA’ when they restore or bring the light, up till tomorrow, our grand children will still be shouting ‘Up NEPA’.
“But now we have the means to develop renewable energy from our water resources, from our oceans and rivers. So I believe the Ministry of Marine and the Blue Economy has to tie and connect with others, even in agriculture, fisheries. And you also talk about exotic sea food for export purpose. We cannot be dependent on imports alone, what are those things that we have in excess that you can process through the river for export? They are fishes, prawns, other ornamental sea foods. We had the Sapele Port where that was happening, I say was, the port is still there. It was the center for the export of wood products. There’s a company called ATP, African Tiber and Plywood that was a fulcrum of export of wood from Edo forest, Delta forest and so on.
The same thing for rubbers, the same thing for palm oil and its derivatives, but all of those have gone down the drain. Today I learned we import palm oil from Asia. The same people who came to Nigeria to learn how to plant seedlings. Today Nigeria cannot pay salaries, but Nigeria is importing palm oil from Malaysia. These are exportable items. So I believe the Ministry of Marine and Economy has to do a lot of synergy with the Ministry of Agriculture, for instance with the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Tourism. They cannot do it alone because these are resources that we need in order for us to develop and come out of potential to reality in driving our ocean and marine resources.
“We’ve been talking endlessly. The League President talked about the disbursement CVFFs, for how many years are we going to continue to talk about the disburdenment of CVFF? What is the purpose of CVFF? It is meant to assist indigenous operators, ship owners to acquire new bottoms and also other players like those that are into foundries. How are we helping them? How can we grow when these things are not put in place? So the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy has a lot of work to do if our setup under that ministry are to be realized. They have to be put on their toes because a lot is on the ground for offer. And the more we put our act together by bringing together those that can drive the vision of that ministry, the better it will be for them. Now we also look at issues like deep sea mining and biodiversity. These are offerings that we have under the blue economy. So we are talking about this mining, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources for instance will also be an ally of our brand new ministry because there are a lot of synergy that is required for those things that we need to extract and have meaningful returns for the ministry to run properly.
And all of this is talking about job creation because if you are just talking about these issues without looking at the prospect for job creation for Nigerians is also a waste of time. So what is on offer in terms of job creation? All of these areas I’ve mentioned, marine tourism for instance…Egypt made about $14 billion just from tourism alone in 2022. So if you want to bring that to Nigeria, how much did we make even in the past ten years from marine tourism? You cannot even aggregate it because the records are not there. So talking about job creation all of these elements l mentioned are potential areas for job creation, because it is a major issue in Nigeria today. A lot of young people are jobless. Meanwhile, we have an area that is green wherein a lot of jobs can be created. So I think we have to look at that, the potential areas of driving our marine and blue economy in Nigeria, then also shipping and port operation”.
FOLLOW US
About Post Author
