Setting agenda for the blue economy
Greg Odogwu
During the 25th anniversary celebration of the League of Maritime Editors in Lagos, last December, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, urged journalists to set realistic agenda for the newly-created ministry, as the sector had not taken the front stage of attention in the past. One cannot agree more because it is quite instructive that when the creation of the ministry was announced last year, many wondered what the government was talking about. For a country so religious that any mention of ‘marine’ is associated with assumed spiritual forces, it was a baptism of fire for all concerned.
To be sure, people knew about waterways, shipping and the oceans, but when one properly ties them together in the basket of blue economy, you now seem to be talking in arcane terms. According to the World Bank, the blue economy is the “sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of the ocean ecosystem.”
I remember my first article on the blue economy about 11 years ago, on this column, and the attention it generated both online and offline. I was left with the realisation that this lack of blue economy mainstreaming harmed the economy. Not only were we faced with the reality of round pegs in square holes, but some government policies put the cart before the horse because incongruent ideas were lumped together. At the end of the day, Nigeria was denied some vital opportunities.
Hence, it is to the credit of this administration that it has decided to put Nigeria on the fast track to marine wealth. This is why I am of the view that in setting the agenda for the country’s new Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, the best way to start is by picking the brains of experts, especially those who are in the trenches.
One thing that is not lacking in our country is human resources. We have men, women and youths with enormous gifts and skills. However, they seem not to be making the required impact within the country, enough to make us raise our heads in the comity of nations. Yet, these citizens’ gifts seem to suddenly manifest immediately when they find themselves outside our shores, in other people’s countries. That is why, today, many Nigerian-born professionals are achieving great feats in all fields of endeavour in every part of the world.
One of such citizens is Michael Amuzie, a Nigeria-trained engineer, who is currently a Chief Engineer/Deputy Director-Head Mechanical Inspection Bureau of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Compliance in the State of New Jersey, the United States. Before emigrating to the US, he was the Engineer’s representative in the construction of the graving dock, multipurpose shop, and the power generating plant at the Snake Island Dockyard, Lagos. He had become the liaison personnel between the Engineering Unit of the Ministry of Transport and the Project Engineer supervising the Dockyard Construction Company Navimor. He was also the Secretary of the Snake Island Dockyard Management Committee at the ministry, responsible for the construction and management of the Dockyard.
His latest service to his Motherland is working as a member of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria sub-committee that developed the recently gazette of regulations for marine engineers, naval architects and marine surveyors in Nigeria.
Amuzie said that the first thing the Federal Government should consider is the establishment of Nigeria Coast Guard for maritime law enforcement, maritime response, marine transportation system management, maritime security operation, and defence operations; also, for licensing of all marine engineers and seafarers, credentialing and certification of maritime inspectors, tracking of vessels coming in and out of the country, checking illegal oil bunkering, illegal fishing both in our local and deep-sea jurisdictional waters, checkmating the activities of pirates, collaborating with other West African countries to protect the Gulf of Guinea.
They would also take on the task of management of decommissioning ships, scrapping and reactivation, collaborating with the United States Coast Guard and any other developed countries maritime outfits in training, logistics, development and support.
Second, the ministry should encourage the development of more classification societies with operators for Regional Africa, while collaborating with the industries and rest of African Countries (exposed to the coastal lines of the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Suez Canal, Pacific Ocean). On the same hand, the ministry should improve on the roles of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and the Nigerian Ports Authority, consisting of management of revenues, streamlining operations, training, management, collaborating with the industries to float deep-sea vessels (general cargo carriers, dredgers, containers, dockyards etc.).
Third, the ministry must strengthen the support services that aid the smooth running of the blue economy infrastructure. For instance, it must entail the recovery of shipwrecks and others in Nigeria’s coastal waters and disposal/resource recovery; adoption of codes and standards for the fabrication, maintenance, repairs and pressure relieving devices for shipboard pressure vessels; and the establishment of more dockyards to support the industry (building, repairs, maintenance etc.).
Fourth, the government should design and execute heavy infrastructure projects to ensure that Nigeria diversifies its transport sector by leveraging the immense blue economy potential presently languishing in its pristine form. These include the development of inland waters ways by dredging Orashi River, River Niger and Benue, Imo River, Cross River, Bonny River; establishment of fully functional ports in Sapele, Warri, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Onitsha and Lokoja (redesign and reconstruct bridges to allow vessels pass underneath); creation of Oguta Port (Mbiama Bridge has to be redesigned to allow vessel passage underneath and Orashi River dredged).
Also, the already existing waterway between Onitsha and Ajaokuta should be enhanced through the development of the Onitsha and Lokoja Ports. Similarly, the bridge at Patani has to be redesigned to allow vessels to pass underneath. Examples of places this type of passage has been done are the Delaware Bridge in the US connecting New Jersey and Delaware, allowing ships to pass underneath from the Delaware River to Delaware Bay to the Atlantic Ocean; and the Verrazano Bridge connecting NY (Upper Bay) to State Island (Lower Bay) then to Raritan Bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
The logistical imperative of this water bypass can never be overemphasised. The Niger Delta suffers massive perennial road infrastructure collapse because of the lack of balance between its land and waterway utilisation.
Fifth, the ministry should tighten its administrative and regulatory infrastructure to align with present global best practices. This will be achieved by an audit of the international treaties related to the blue economy and an update on their current implementation. In addition, Nigeria should incorporate the model of government inspection of shipping and registration of ships (borrow from the Liberia experience); inspection programme for insurance and government inspectors; and the establishment of new and development of existing marine engineering and navigation schools as well as marine transportation studies – Admiralty laws. (Borrow the programmes at the State University of New York Maritime College in Fort Schuyler, New York).
I could add that offshore renewable energy and deep-sea mining should be fully incorporated in the blue economy value chain, in partnership with relevant agencies and institutions. Coastal off-grid renewables are also green options to be explored. This is not forgetting that we need to manage the various aspects of oceanic sustainability, ranging from sustainable fisheries to ecosystem health, and pollution. It is, indeed, gladdening that the Nigerian government recognises the fact that sustainable management of ocean resources requires collaboration across the tiers of government – federal, state and local; and across the public and private sectors. Surely, before us are many possibilities for national revitalisation.
