«Mr President, please have mercy”. This refrain was made popular by a bishop who on January 20 officiated at the inauguration National Prayer Service of President Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States.
She could barely control her emotions as she pleaded with the then incoming President to have a human face and allow the fear of God to guide him in the way and manner he will govern America in his second coming, obviously drawing inference from his campaign threats, especially about his planned crackdown on illegal immigrants.
This is the same prayer maritime stakeholders are taking to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to “have mercy” on an industry that rightly deserves a state of emergency, after it was announced that only a paltry N12 billion was approved for the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy in the 2025 appropriation bill, an action which once again underscores the seeming lip service of successive federal administrations towards the diversification of the nation’s economy and, by extention, harnessing the huge potential of the maritime sector.
Addressing the Joint Committee of the Senate Committee on Marine Transport and the House Committees on Ports and Harbours, Maritime Safety, Education, Administration, Inland Waterways and Shipping Services, during the budget defence of the Ministry last week, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy , Chief Adegboyega Oyetola, said the figure comprising N11.77 billion for capital expenditures and N453.86 million for recurrent spending were grossly inadequate.
While appealing to the lawmakers for an upward review of the budget, he pleaded that if the Ministry must deliver on its mandate for a robust investment in maritme safety, fisheries and port infrastructure, the projected allocation should be reviewed.
The Ministry’s budget in 2024 was about N10 billion, Oyetola said.
In 2025, the Ministry intends to boost fisheries and aquaculture projects as the nation tackles food insecurity.
The Minister also raised concerns about decaying port infrastructure, silts in river channels and plans to improve safety on our waterways.
He explained that despite the fact that agencies such as the Nigerian Ports Authority, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and the Nigerian Shippers Council, are self-financing, the National Inland Waterways Authority and the Maritime Academy of Nigeria require adequate funding to meet their statutory obligations of ensuring safety in our waterways and provide quality personnel for the industry.
-Oyetola decried the rising incidence of boat mishaps in our waterways and revealed that NIWA intends to distribute life jackets in riverine communities nationwide.
Following the creation of the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2023, there was expectation by stakeholders that the sector would witness a phenomenal growth both in terms of government funding and private sector participation. But almost two years since its creation, there is hardly any tangible takeaways from a sector which, if properly harnessed, would improve our Gross Domestic Product and create abundant job opportunities. It is estimated that this sector is worth over $3 trilion globally and may shoot up to about $6 trillion in the next few years. But how much Nigeria can tap into this market depends on how prepared we are to invest in the sector.
Nations such as Japan, China, Greece, Singapore, Norway, US and UK have the largest fleets in terms of ship building and acquisition, but back home in Nigeria, the well thought out programme to grow our indigenous shipping capacity through concerted acquisition has been grossly abused.
About 22 years after the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund, CVFF, was established, successive administrations have continued to renege on the disbursement of the fund.
Sadly, this has led to the abysmal participation of indigenous operators. Nigerian banks are also to share in the blame due to their reluctance to fully participate in the sector.
Japan, for instance, has a fleet capacity of about $206 billion while that of Singapore is in the region of about $44 billion, according to recent statistics. But the fact remains that China dominates the global ship building industry, accounting for more than 45 per cent.
Critical stakeholders in Nigeria’s maritime industry are unimpressed with the laxity with which the Tinubu administration has handled the sector, about two years since inception. And the 2025 budget allocation of a paltry N12 billion to a Ministry whose potential, if well harnessed, have the capacity to lift Nigeria out of the woods, confirms our unpreparedness to harvest from the global market. Mr President, please, have mercy on our maritime industry, Chief Adegboyega Oyetola, your Minister for Marine and Blue Economy by giving him the tools to deliver on his mandate.
