By Feyisola Adeyeha
When the Federal Government created the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy in August 2023, maritime stakeholders widely welcomed the move after years of calls for dedicated attention to the sector. Established under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, the ministry was tasked with repositioning Nigeria’s ocean resources, ports, shipping, fisheries and coastal economy as key drivers of economic diversification.
With the country’s blue economy potential estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars, the goal was to replace fragmented oversight with coordinated, long-term development.
Three years on, the ministry has strengthened the industry’s identity, improved maritime security and begun aligning training standards with global requirements. It has also recorded notable gains in revenue generation, international engagement and policy development. However, operators across shipping, ports and training institutions say the real test remains: converting policy momentum into ships, jobs, infrastructure and a more competitive maritime economy.
For Captain Dr. Joseph Awodeha, Executive Director of Training and Strategic Planning at Charkin Maritime and Offshore Safety Centre in Port Harcourt, the creation of the ministry was long overdue.
“The creation of Marine and Blue Economy was well accepted. In fact, it was almost overdue before it came through. So we as mariners, we welcomed it with open hands,” he said, explaining that placing the sector under a dedicated ministry has helped move it beyond being treated simply as an extension of transportation.
One of the clearest signs of that renewed focus, he said, is the ministry’s engagement with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to audit Nigerian maritime training institutions and assess them against international standards.
“They have gotten the IMO to come and audit the maritime training institutions, so that they are having standard global comparative curriculum,” Awodeha said.
For Nigeria’s young seafarers, that could be a significant breakthrough because if Nigerian training and certification meet international requirements, officers trained in the country would have a better chance of securing employment beyond Nigerian waters.
“When they attain that level, then our officers can seek employment in the global space, rather than being held down in Nigeria,” he said, noting that the shortage of qualified seafarers is a global problem.
Capt. Ahmed Hambali, the first Nigerian to serve as master of an LNG carrier and former Fleet Manager at Nigeria LNG, also sees the ministry’s focus as one of its major achievements. After many years at sea and in maritime management, Hambali retired last year and is now working on a company that will introduce unmanned marine drones for security and resource surveys in Nigeria.
From his perspective, the ministry’s biggest achievement so far has been bringing greater attention to the commercial opportunities within the marine sector, particularly as maritime security has improved significantly.
“At least there is focus now on commercialising the marine opportunities. There is a ministry that is focusing on that area; before, we didn’t,” he said, pointing to the decline in piracy as one of the most visible changes.
“Nigeria used to be one of the high piracy areas, but now ,it is on the decline. You hardly hear stories of piracy or kidnapping around our coast.”
The improvement in security is already being felt at the ports, according to Emenike Kingsley Nwokoji, National President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, who said stronger government attention to the maritime sector has coincided with increased cargo activity.
He cited cargo throughput growth of a little over 24 per cent between 2024 and 2025, saying, “More cargo is coming in,” while also noting that the reduction in piracy and maritime crime has helped restore confidence among shipping lines.
“The area we can say now that they have done more is providing maritime security. We have a reduction in piracy and maritime crime, which makes vessels now come to our ports. Before now, so many liners would tell you that they would not come to Nigeria. But now, I doubt if we still have such a thing,” Nwokoji said.
The progress has not erased the structural problems that have held the industry back for decades, with perhaps the biggest being Nigeria’s shortage of indigenous ships.
Hambali said it remains difficult to understand how a country with one of the world’s largest oil industries can remain heavily dependent on foreign-owned vessels.
“We don’t have a ship that is owned by big oil ships.We are literally chartering those vessels,” he said.
The problem is not simply a lack of vessels but also the cost of doing business, as Nigerian seafarers continue to face difficulties with the international recognition of their certificates, while obtaining foreign certification can cost more than $100,000.
At the same time, taxes and levies on seafarers’ wages increase the cost of employing Nigerian crew, creating an uneven playing field for Nigerian companies competing with established maritime nations.
“If you are a company, that is what you’ll be competing with a company in the Philippine. It’s going to be almost impossible to be competitive,” Hambali said.
The consequence is a frustrating contradiction: Nigeria has young people eager to build careers at sea and a global shortage of qualified seafarers, yet the country does not have enough ships to provide them with the sea time required to qualify.
Awodeha knows this problem firsthand, he said had received calls from former cadets looking for opportunities to complete their sea-time requirements.
“This afternoon, I’ve got two calls from my ex-cadets who are requesting if I have any contacts in the industry where they can serve their sea time,” he said.
“We don’t have enough ships to absorb the manpower that we have. Even the manpower that we now have is not able to export them outside. Yet, the global space is short of officers.”
For Awodeha, one of the immediate solutions lies in unlocking the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF), which has accumulated contributions from operators but remained largely inaccessible to the industry.
“CVFF funds are still being held down. Every administration will come and say oh, we’re going to do it, and in the end, it never gets done,” he said.
Releasing the funds, he argued, would give Nigerian shipping companies the financial capacity to acquire or expand their fleets and reduce dependence on foreign-owned vessels.
“If they do that as soon as possible, that will afford the shipping companies to expand their fleets, or improve their fleets, so that we don’t have to depend on importation of foreign-owned vessels,” he said.
The challenges are not limited to ships and seafarers, as customs agents are still battling infrastructure and bureaucratic bottlenecks at the ports.
Nwokoji said the long-promised National Single Window, which is expected to simplify trade processes by allowing stakeholders to complete much of their work digitally, has yet to deliver the transformation operators expect.
“Not much has been done in that sector,” he said, expressing hope that significant progress would be made before the end of the year so that port users can complete most procedures without having to physically move from one government office to another.
The aim, he explained, is to reach a point where operators can carry out 80 to 90 per cent of their work from their offices.
Road infrastructure is another major concern, particularly around ports in Lagos and the eastern part of the country.
Nwokoji said the poor condition of access roads to Onne Port is so serious that some operators are considering withdrawing their services, while similar problems around Lagos continue to increase the cost of moving cargo.
“When movement is impeded along the road to the port, it affects every Nigerian because the transporters charge more and of course, the importers will pass it on to the common man,” he said.
Nwokoji also questioned the wisdom of concentrating major port investments in Lagos, particularly when other parts of the country have ports that could be developed to spread maritime activity.
He cited plans involving the rehabilitation of two Lagos ports through a UK-backed loan, arguing that a stronger approach would be to develop other strategic ports, particularly Port Harcourt.
“If you are picking Apapa as the premier port, the next should be Port Harcourt Port,” he said.
For Hambali, the next phase of the ministry’s work must go beyond creating awareness about the blue economy and focus on making Nigeria competitive enough to attract investment, retain maritime professionals and grow a national fleet.
“For me, I think one of the biggest areas is to focus on human capital development. So let’s push through getting the Nigerian Certificate of Competency acceptable worldwide,” he said.
He also wants a review of Nigeria’s shipping register and tax regime to make the country more attractive for vessel registration, while urging greater attention to emerging opportunities in green shipping and carbon trading.
Nwokoji’s message to the ministry is equally straightforward: government must become more proactive, particularly in maintaining infrastructure and following through on agreements already reached.
“You don’t allow the roads to get so much dilapidated before you react,” he said, while urging the ministry to ensure that plans to rehabilitate ports are implemented.
Despite the frustrations, there is a sense among stakeholders that the ministry has moved the conversation in the right direction. Its creation has given the maritime industry a dedicated government platform, maritime security has improved, training institutions are being pushed towards international standards, and government attention to the sector has increased. However, stakeholders argue that the next stage must be measured by tangible outcomes.
A ministry can provide policy and direction, but it cannot create maritime jobs without vessels; training reforms cannot deliver their full value if Nigerian certificates are not accepted internationally; port expansion cannot translate into efficient trade when access roads remain impassable; and a digital trade system cannot transform the ports if it remains largely on paper.
For Hambali, however, the opportunities remain enormous, particularly for young Nigerians willing to pursue careers at sea.
“It’s a very good profession,” he said. “A captain now earns in excess of $100,000 per annum, also, there’s an opportunity to see the world for free. If I can succeed from Katsina, it’s doable and quite rewarding as well.”
Three years after the creation of the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, Nigeria has taken an important first step by giving the sector a clearer identity and greater policy attention. The harder task is now converting that momentum into vessels flying the Nigerian flag, internationally recognised certificates, modern ports and roads, efficient digital systems and, most importantly, jobs for the young Nigerians waiting to take their place at sea.
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