The blue economy promotes sustainable use of ocean resources, economic diversification and reduction of dependence on oil and gas sector. But, with issues like pollution, overfishing, and habitat destruction, experts believe that effective management and personnel frameworks are critical for the sector’s sustainability beyond government’s paradigm shift. Lawyers in maritime and other experts have asserted that with President Bola Tinubu-led administration’s focus on protecting the nation’s vast coastline and rich marine resources, fisheries and aquaculture, there is room for high employment opportunities in the sector to realise over $2.5 billion revenue. They asserted that the younger generations should be educated now to prepare them to explore the abundant employment opportunities and bridge the skills gap for future sustainability, Assistant Editor BOLA OLAJUWON reports.
Immense economic opportunities in maritime, blue economy
The Federal Government has unveiled plans to tap into the abundant opportunities in the maritime and blue economy sector, encompassing economic activities related to oceans, seas and coastal areas. Nigeria plays a vital role globally in the sector with potential valued at $2.5 trillion annually, highlighting immense economic opportunities.
Essentially, maritime trade is crucial for global commerce since over 95 per cent of international trades are seaborne. Oceans offer resources like fisheries, minerals and energy, including offshore oil/gas, among others. Also, maritime experts believe that the sector is housing over 70 per cent of global resources. It also supports jobs in shipping, ports, fisheries, tourism, and related industries.
Nigeria has a coastline along the Gulf of Guinea, offering maritime opportunities with key ports, including Apapa and Tin Can Island, Onne, and Calabar. The country is also a major oil producer with significant offshore activities.
Therefore, the blue economy promotes sustainable use of ocean resources, economic diversification and reduction of dependence on single sectors. But, with issues like pollution, overfishing, and habitat destruction, experts have asserted that skilled professionals are critical for the sector’s sustainability beyond government’s mere declaration.
A projection into the future
According to lawyers in maritime and other experts, with President Bola Tinubu administration’s focus on protecting the nation’s vast coastline and rich marine resources, fisheries and aquaculture, there is room for high employment opportunities in shipping and maritime transport since Nigeria’s international trade relies heavily on maritime transport.
There is also a need for skilled personnel in offshore oil and gas, renewable energy, tourism potential and supporting jobs in hospitality, tour operations, and related services, maritime security, shipbuilding and repairs and emerging field with potential for innovation and jobs in marine biotechnology.
Experts weigh in
Experts have, therefore, advocated education and training of basic and secondary pupils on abundant opportunities in maritime and blue economy to make the sector sustainable as well as prepare them for emerging and future employment opportunities.
They spoke at a conference organised by Ocean Ambassadors Foundation (OAF) in Lagos, with the theme: Unpacking the opportunities in the Marine and Blue Economy”.
Those who addressed the conference included the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM) Princess Adebopo Oyekan-Ismaila ; former Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and Executive Chairman, Polmaz Logistics Services Limited Temisan Omatseye; Principal Consultant, Etcetera Consults Limited, Dr. Alban Igwe; an Associate Professor of Transport and Logistics, Lagos State University (LASU) and the event organiser and Lead Promoter and Chief Executive Officer of OAF, Mrs. Olaitan Williams, among others.
Mrs. Williams said the event was organised to train school principals on the need to tell the young ones to make up their minds to explore employment opportunities and protect the environment for better sustainability.
Omatseye, who thanked the organiser for the event, told The Nation on the sideline of the conference that the challenge the country is facing in the maritime sector and not moving forward or getting enough people to participate is the failure to begin to get the citizenry, especially the younger ones, to have a better understanding and appreciation of the sector.
He regretted that everybody wants to be a lawyer, engineer, doctor among others, not knowing that the least paid worker on seaborne vessels receives $500 while a ship captain receives $10,000 and more.
“They failed to realise that the maritime sector is actually quite a vibrant sector and it has a lot to do with their day-to-day lives. And even though if you don’t want to practise in the sector, it’s actually quite important for you to also understand your environment and see how you can protect your environment. At least you have your basic knowledge, you can still be a doctor and still understand the environment is necessary for you.
“We can develop these young ones to become young environmentalists as well as on how to protect our environment. Our environment is going bad. So, it’s very important for the teachers who are the ones who are imparting knowledge. Because while we are in nursery and primary schools, there are a lot of things, which we were taught and still remain in our minds.
“Therefore, we need to also begin to see how we can get these teachers now to begin to impart some ideas into these younger ones. So that they themselves can research and look at the opportunities and maybe we might not capture 100 percent, but even if it’s 10 per cent, we are good to go now. We can begin to build on that and take it to a higher level.”
According to him, India and the Philippines did that and are becoming major seafaring nations, adding that Nigeria has abundant opportunity, especially in Africa in the area.
On how much the Federal Government can make if the sector is well-exploited, Omatseye said between $2.5 and $5 billion on an annual basis. “Look at the issue of fisheries and our aquaculture, we are not taking opportunities. We are having very heavy Chinese vessels coming to sweep our waters and take our fishes away. All the government needs to do is develop the infrastructure. The impact is quite big. “So, just basically teach the younger ones what they need to understand because you cannot input a lot of technical stuff into them. Get them to appreciate the maritime sector.
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“It is when they are beginning to get to the secondary school, and then they begin to appreciate and begin to work in the technical areas.”
Igwe, on his part, told The Nation that the conference was very critical for the sustainability of the blue economy.
“Now, granted, there is a political pronouncement on the new economy, and it has actually taken off. There is a policy that has also been crafted, alright, but the politicians will leave. So, the main foundation for the sustainability of blue economy is the people that will work in this environment, beginning from now. And we must make conscious effort to develop them. And we can’t develop them in space, we can’t ask them, okay, go to University of Nigeria and study, and just put anything together.
“No! There must be a conscious, deliberate and intentional effort to craft a curriculum that will address the needs of the blue and marine economy. Then, we know that in the next few years, we are having the right resources to actually pilot the blue economy.
“Which area would you want the educators to focus on through campaigning, training of the younger ones to embrace the opportunities inherent in the blue economy? Alright, we have carefully identified the different areas of maritime and blue economy. Beginning from shipping, transportation, research, mining, none of them can be less emphasised. The reason is that each of them presents enormous economic and employment opportunities.
“Just as you know that the whole universe, two-thirds of the earth is sea. That is where the main resources are. So, we are all scrambling and struggling with one-third of the Earth’s surface, which is the land.
“Now, our direction is being drawn to the sea, seaside, which contains over 60 per cent to 70 percent of the resources. Not just on the surface, but even as you drill down, there are areas of the ocean that are several miles deep inside. So, we cannot minimise oil and gas exploration from offshore. We cannot minimise fisheries, which sustains all that we eat by way of fishing. It comes from the sea. We can’t minimise it. So, all we are trying to say is that there are wide opportunities that can accommodate all the unemployment and lack of resources. We can start from somewhere, but obviously the sky is our limit, or the sea is our limit.”
Dr. Ugbona submitted to The Nation that the essence of the conference was to create awareness about blue economy to educators of institutions and these are heads of primary and secondary schools.
“Even with the name blue economy, many people don’t know what it’s all about. So, it’s actually activities around the maritime sector, around the sea, how we can draw the potentials from the sea and also make it to be sustainable.
“Essentially, we want our teachers that are teaching our young ones to be knowledgeable enough to impart that area of knowledge to our young ones and to also enable the young ones make career decisions in good time, to start forming them right from primary school to secondary and then probably to the university to make our children to be future work-ready.
A call for action
Aside educating the younger ones on opportunities in the sector, Omatseye urged the government and maritime bodies to create a curricula system to certify Nigerians on abundant skill gaps in the sector. To him, everybody must not go to universities to study degree courses.
Princess Ismaila told The Nation that the initiative exposed her to a lot of opportunities that are found in the maritime industry and particularly in Lagos State, “because we are also a coastal state and we have seen several opportunities that we can teach and expose our students to”.
She said: “So, this will be incorporated into our curriculum so that our students will be taught about the importance of the maritime sector and the opportunities that they can get when they grow older. It’s been a very wonderful experience and I’m sure that it will benefit the state and Nigeria in general.”
On her advice to educators, she said: “The educators that are here should take keen interest in training others, in teaching others, in exposing what they have learned, because anything that you keep to yourself really does not benefit you because what you share and what you teach others is what benefits you.
“You heard one of the speakers say that they can create clubs, create opportunities, learning, sharing methods of teaching others, and when you teach others, everybody at the end of the day will be on the same page.”
The Director-General of the Nigerian Chamber of Shipping (NCS), Mrs. Vivian Chimezie-Azubuike, another speaker, also aligned with others on the need to get the young ones involved in maritime and blue economy activities for sustainability.
