The sea is vital to the survival of nations, particularly littoral states. Its use spans the economic, military as well as international relations realm. It represents the common heritage of mankind upon which human prosperity depends. The sea has always been reported to provide the means by which over 90 percent of world trade by weight is transported. Throughout history, the development of littoral states has always been influenced by the extent to which they master the sea, exploit the sea unhindered and are able to ward off attacks from the sea.
Nigeria has a coastline of 420 nautical miles (nm), an Exclusive Economic Zone of 200nm and thus a maritime area of 84,000 sq nm. Nigeria’s maritime area is almost equal to one-third of the total land area of the nation. Nigeria as a littoral state has sovereign rights to all living and non-living resources contained within its maritime area of interest. The maritime resources include hydrocarbons, fish, prawns, cobalt, nickel and manganese. However, only oil and gas has been of immense strategic value in contemporary times to the nation. In spite of these huge resources, it was reported at the recently concluded Nigerian Maritime Expo (NIMAREX) that ‘80 percent of Nigeria’s maritime resources are yet to be tapped’. That a nation has maritime resources out of which only 20 percent has been tapped in 100 years of existence shows that the sector of the economy is invisible to the people. The invisible nature of the maritime industry is as a result of the mismatch between the citizens’ perception and reality of benefits that could be derived from enormous resources in that sector of the economy.
Report has it that Nigeria’s maritime industry is worth N7.0 trillion less natural and mineral resources within its EEZ. And if only 20 percent of maritime resources is tapped, it means that Nigerians have what maritime strategists refer to as ‘sea blindness’.
‘Sea blindness’ is a result of people’s inability to know what the sea and shipping does for the nation. ‘Sea blindness’ has been attributed by maritime experts to a hereditary and institutionalized ignorance and mystification of the sea by Africans and specifically Nigerians which is rather unfortunate. This is due to lack of maritime and security culture amongst other factors.
Nigeria like other maritime nations has had to contend with increasingly disturbing challenges at sea that are not conterminous with national security. The challenges cover a broad spectrum of economic, socio-political, environmental, technological and security factors. The nation’s fish stock is over-exploited through poaching and it is on record that Nigeria loses about $70 million to poaching annually. Nigerian fishing companies are gradually facing extinction because they cannot operate their trawlers as a result of sea robbery and high cost of operation. Fishermen are out of business because our coastal waters are polluted. Smuggling is very rampant within the nation’s maritime area of interest and its consequences on the economy are very grave as it precipitates loss of revenue to the government, weakens national currency, and increases unemployment as cheap items are imported to the country thereby discouraging local industries. Smuggling encourages illegal trafficking of drugs, humans, arms and ammunition, amongst others. There is illegal bunkering and crude oil theft which reflects poor maritime governance. Report has it that Nigeria loses about 70,000 barrels of crude oil/day which translates to $1.5 billion using a conservative figure of $60/barrel of crude oil.
There is pipeline vandalism as well as inadequacies in international and domestic shipping in Nigeria. The inefficiency in our ports with low productivity and high traffic handling time has negative impact on the nation’s economic growth. For instance, Nigeria is supposed to handle most of the 3 million metric tonnes of export and import cargoes of Niger Republic which is a landlocked neighbour. Due to inefficiency and bureaucracy at Nigerian ports, the country loses Niger Republic’s cargoes that are expected to transit our ports. It was reported that about 2.5 million metric tonnes of cargo belonging to Niger Republic has been lost to Benin Republic, 1.5 million metric tonnes of cargo to Togo and 1.0 million metric tonnes to Ghana. Even cargoes due to Nigeria have been lost neighbouring countries. The political dimension of the challenges within the nation’s maritime industry covers maritime boundary disputes, unstable polity within the West African sub-region, terrorism, corruption and militancy amongst others. These challenges are not peculiar to Nigeria but most exist in other maritime nations in Africa.
Indeed Africa’s inland waters, oceans and the seas are under pressure. Accordingly, under the auspices of the African Union, the 2050 Africa’s Integrated Maritime (AIM) Strategy has been evolved. The 2050 AIM Strategy provides a broad framework for the protection and sustainable exploitation of the African maritime domain for wealth creation. This writer is not aware that since 2010 when the debate commenced, Nigeria has been represented at the ministerial level to provide input into the formulation of the 2050 AIM Strategy. If Nigeria was represented, which maritime strategy did our representatives draw inspiration from? The truth is that Nigeria has no national maritime strategy that can address contending, emerging and future maritime challenges and opportunities within it maritime domain and areas of contiguity. Such a maritime strategy needs to take into consideration landlocked neighbours with a clear focus on wealth creation arising from sustainable governance of Nigeria’s inland waters, oceans and the seas.
As Africans gather in Addis Ababa for the 6th African Maritime Cross-sectional Experts Conference scheduled for 21–25 July, 2015 to further discuss the 2050 AIM Strategy, I hope Nigeria will have its maritime strategy that will be the platform for meaningful contribution to this laudable endeavour. If there is no maritime strategy, Nigeria will not tap beyond 20 percent of the resources within its maritime environment. In formulating a workable national maritime strategy, it is recommended that at the ministerial level, the ministries of transport, justice and defence as well as the NASS must work together with the Nigerian Navy, NIOMAR, NIMASA, NPA, Nigerian Customs Service, and Shippers’ Council at the agency level, while the Nigerian ship owners association will lend its voice at the industry level. Events in the global maritime domain show that no single organization can formulate a workable maritime strategy for Nigeria. There is a facility within the country to simulate various components of a proposed national maritime strategy to see how it works and thus make corrections before promulgation.
MA Johnson
