Maritime sector needs to return over N300bn to Nigerian economy – Amaechi

Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transportation, said the nation’s maritime industry, which is presently returning less than N100 billion to the Federal Government should be returning above N300 billion annually.

To him, security infrastructure being built by the Federal Government called the Deep Blue Sea project would be a major economic boost that would enable it to make effective contribution to government revenue.

Speaking with the media in Lagos during the World Maritime Day (WMD) celebration, Amaechi said the project aimed to secure the nation’s waters up and entire Gulf of Guinea to inspire greater investor’ confidence in the maritime sector.

“With this, the revenue of agencies in the maritime sector will increase vis-à-vis that of the country,” he said.

Presenting paper on the measures to tackle maritime insecurity, Dakuku Peterside, director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) said in addition to land, air, and marine-based assets being acquired, the agency had built an intelligence gathering component for the execution of the Deep Blue project.

The Deep Blue Project is a multipronged approach towards tackling insecurity on Nigerian waters and the entire Gulf of Guinea. It involves the acquisition of assets such as fast-intervention vessels, surveillance aircraft, and other facilities, including a command and control centre for data collection and information sharing that will serve the goals of targeted enforcement. The project also includes the training of personnel from the security services to man the assets.

The objective is to build an integrated surveillance and security architecture that will comprehensively combat maritime crimes in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, in commemoration of the WMD, NIMASA awarded educational grants to 10 students, who excelled in an essay competition it organised.

Toluwalope Ojewola, a student of the University of Ibadan, emerged overall winner of the essay competition, which had over 100 entries, and centered on the theme, “Empowering Women in the Maritime Community,” in line with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) campaign focus of, “Supporting Gender Equality, Empowering Women” in maritime.

Ojewola was presented with N500, 000 education grant, a laptop and a plaque; Blessing Omataye of the University of Benin came second while Alexander Chikodinaka Nwaegede from the University of Nigeria, Nsuka, came third. Both won educational grants and lap tops.