Marine engineers and naval architects are leading a push for a national vision and pathway for the blue economy or the maritime industry.

This is because they believe that Nigeria has the chance to lead African maritime industry, going by the largest coastline, highest oil and gas activities in water, largest number of youths to drive any vision if well directed, etc.

The vibe at the 2025 conference thus was that Nigeria’s blue economy is sure to succeed, and the the presidency has done their part.

They thus assembled the biggest names in the profession in Port Harcort to brainstorm on the exact things Nigeria needs to do from vision to policy to actions that would deliver the much expected blue economy which is said to be at its infancy in Nigeria.

The experts, operating under the aegis of the Nigerian Institution of Marine Engineers and Naval Archtects (NIMENA), in their 14th annual conference in Port Harcourt, put out the theme: ‘Digital Maritime Transformation and Smart Solutions: A Pathway to the Advancement of Nigeria Blue Economy.’

The conference featured speakers including Aladenusi Olugbemiro, now the Senior Special Adviser to the Ondo State government on Blue Economy, Ibiba Douglas Emmanuel, onetime director of Shell Centre of Excellence; Chandni Jaga, a chemical engineer of Singaporea-Indian origin but married to a Nigerian, is a tech buff who is out to help midwife the blue economy with Singaporean template to show the way; etc.

Throwing some light on the push for a vision and pathway in an interview on the sideline of the conference, Sylvanus Eferebo, Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), and National Chairman, Nigerian Institution of Marine Engineers and Naval Architects (NIMENA), reacted to worries that they would be discussing how to take Nigeria maritime to digital levels when the problem confronting the ordinary marine and maritime community is rickety crafts, overloading, poor maintenance, accidents, and dirty waters.

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He said: “As an institution, we are policy advocates and we help in shipping policy, but we do not enforce. Now, every year, we choose one relevant topic. We must also know that maritime is a global phenomenon, not just about Nigeria. So, Nigeria cannot afford to sit and watch while other nations are looking ahead. We have to be updated in line with global trend.

“Last year, we discussed policy and regulation. This time, we are talking about digital transformation because we want smart processes and solution in terms of addressing our problems. Even these challenges you mentioned; boat mishaps, marine incidents, rickety boats, dirty waters, they will benefit from smart solution. They all are caused by lack of solutions. This conference boils down to policies, digital transformation can be applied in policy reforms.”

He said they have different subtopics especially how they could be sovereign in having their own solutions. “These are the structured pathways that we are looking at. Conferences like this are to collaborate and engage. All of this will serve as advisory note. We come up with communique that can be used to form policy. We have industry experts, policy makers, the academia, every group; it is a complete ecosystem.”

He said there was evidence that these yearly conferences yield policy changes that help change the industry for good. “Part of the recommendations that we rolled out in previous years are what have informed the current engineering regulations.

“In fact, critical members of this Institution are part of drafting the regulations we talk about. I personally am the chairman of COREN ERM&E (that is Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria, Engineering, Regulation, Monitoring and Enforcement) committee. I was also part of principal members of the Institution. We are also part of the people that reviewed the COREN regulations that have just been gazeted for marine engineers and marine architecture. We cannot be separated from the regulatory bodies.”

On how Nigerian waters can be clean to allow some of the digital solutions to even operate, Eferebo said just as one of our presenters, Chandni Jaga, said, “We need to have a clear national vision for maritime. When we have that, we now get a structured roadmap or pathway to having a sustainable blue economy, we will now define steps to take. It will form one single national maritime vision.

“You may recall that she has made it clear that Nigeria has the potential to lead African maritime. We have huge assets in the blue economy; long coastline, highest oil and gas activities happening over a vast area, teeming youths that are resilient and brilliant enough to create solutions. Nigeria has to create a pathway to advance our blue economy.”

As it is now, he said, there are different agencies doing their own things. “We must come together to forge one national vision, one pathway.

“Singapore’s national asset is the sea. So, they now forge a national vision that surrounds the sea and everybody works toward this vision. Until we create ours, we won’t move forward.”

On who should drive this process to arrive at a vision and pathway, the national chairman said NIMENA has come out from the professional angle to form this advocacy. “You cannot talk about sustainability without engineering infrastructure.

“So, that is the reason why as the foremost institution, we have come to up for this. For over two years, we have talked about the blue economy and one of our members has been appointed as special adviser to a governor (Ondo State). We are doing our best to see how we can work within the scope of our jurisdiction. Now, we need to have a national discuss and chart a national roadmap for the advancement of the blue economy.

“One of the principal things is that NIMENA is also a part of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE). In the larger of the NSE, we have a voice. We are having a national conference in Ibadan (Oyo State) next week and I am a speaker there. Theme is Engineering Innovation for Sustainable Blue Economy. It is attracting world leaders, national leaders, etc. We expect that at the end of this discuss, we will be able to take what we have resolved to national advisory note for policy makers to do their work.”

The good thing about professional conferences, he stated, is that they go deep into technical aspects as is going on in Port Harcourt. “We may not have that depth in the general one, but at the end of the day, as a division, we will link up and come up with a robust policy framework. As Chandni Jaga said, the key issue is not technology but policy and efficient regulation.”

He said the President has done well by creating a Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy. “That Ministry has a lot of responsibilities, though a baby ministry. They are one of the key sponsors of the NSE Conference of next week. These conversations are going on.”

As far as the national body of NIMENA is concerned, there is huge hope for the blue economy and the evidence, he said, is already showing.

Earlier in his welcome address, Eferebo (national chairman) said over 90% of international trade in Nigeria takes place through water (ports), but that constraints such as substandard engines, poor maintenance, limited local content, limited enforements, etc, cause huge setbacks in the maritime industry.

For solution, he called for strengthening of standards by various regulatory agencies including NIMASA, NPA, Navy, SON, NIWA, NCDMB, etc, to allow Nigeria achieve global competitiveness.

He pointed at weak inter-agency coordination, limited standard-base inspection, poor regulation for imports, poor standard for local fabrication, as major gaps.

The benefits of solving these problems, he said, include improved durability of water crafts, and reduced importation.

Eferebo said shortage of naval engineers as another challenge and mentioned the need for redesigns to meet international standards. He called for shipyard apprenticeship system, Navy-university joint research programme to solve some of the problems.

He gave some case studies and called for standard procurement protocols.

In his keynote address, Olu Aladenusi warned that Nigeria must upgrade now or face consequences.

In his paper presented by Ayman Ibrahim Adam, he said: “The application of digital technologies and smart maritime solutions in the maritime landscape to address the complexities of modern maritime challenges is no longer an evolution but a full-scale revolution.

“For emerging economies like Nigeria, this should be viewed from the broad spectrum of opportunities instead of a barrier. We must adapt swiftly or fall behind; we must embrace this ride of digital transformation to position Nigeria as a power hub for maritime activities in Africa and beyond.

“Encouragingly, Nigeria already recognises these maritime trends, and the first steps are already on the horizon, hence the government’s renewed focus on the blue economy, signalling national commitment to the modernization of maritime infrastructure and fostering sustainable ocean-based industries.”