The Federal Government has been urged to leverage the UTM Offshore Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) Project to strengthen the country’s indigenous shipping capacity and capture billions of naira in maritime economic value lost to foreign players.

A former president of the African Shipowners Association, Ladi Olubowale, who made the call, said the project presents Nigeria with an opportunity to enhance indigenous shipping, expand offshore support services and reduce dependence on foreign-owned fleets that currently dominate logistics and marine operations in the country’s offshore energy sector.

Olubowale stressed that every offshore energy project relies heavily on vessels for construction, logistics, personnel transfer, security, maintenance, emergency response and technical support, adding that Nigeria continues to lose significant economic value because many of these services are provided by multinationals.

The shipping professional emphasised that the long-term operation of the UTM FLNG facility would require offshore support vessels, marine logistics, crew transfer services, emergency response operations, security patrols, marine engineering, subsea support, and technical maintenance, each of which represents a potential industry capable of generating employment, taxes, and local economic growth.

According to him, increased domestic ownership of offshore support vessels would create thousands of jobs for Nigerian seafarers, offshore technicians, naval architects, marine engineers and logistics professionals, while also stimulating growth in ship management, marine insurance, legal services, finance, maintenance and port operations.

Drawing comparisons with Norway, Qatar and Singapore, Olubowale said these countries became global maritime leaders by deliberately investing in indigenous shipping, offshore services, maritime finance and technical expertise rather than relying solely on natural resource exports.

Olubowale, who is also the Group Managing Director of Seamate Maritime Integrated Services Limited, argued that Nigeria must adopt a similar strategy by ensuring indigenous participation in offshore logistics across the value chain.

The shipping professional further advocated that future offshore developments, including FLNG projects, floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) facilities, refineries, offshore renewable energy projects, and deepwater investments, should be accompanied by strategic fleet development plans prioritising indigenous participation.

Such an approach, Olubowale said, would gradually build a Nigerian-owned fleet capable of serving both domestic offshore projects and emerging opportunities across the Gulf of Guinea and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

He also called on the Presidency, the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), financial institutions and private investors to align the UTM FLNG Project with a national strategic fleet development agenda.

According to Olubowale, success should not be measured solely by the volume of gas exported but by the amount of economic value retained through indigenous shipping, local content development, job creation, foreign exchange retention, and the growth of globally competitive Nigerian maritime companies.

The shipping professional called for the deployment of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) to finance productive maritime assets tied to commercially viable projects such as the UTM FLNG development.

“Every molecule of gas exported should generate Nigerian freight, Nigerian jobs, Nigerian financing, Nigerian ship management, Nigerian insurance, Nigerian seafarers and Nigerian prosperity.