The National Chairman, Nigeria Institution of Maritime Engineers and Naval Architects (NIMENA), Dr Eferebo Sylvanus, has attributed the inability of the country to generate at least N1 trillion from the marine and blue economy sector to the lack of a clear national policy.

He stated that poor standardisation and lack of technical sovereignty also pose a threat to the actualisation of the full gains of the sector.

The Chairman of NIMENA, while speaking at the 4th Annual Conference of the Institute with the theme, “Digital Maritime Transformation and Smart Solutions: A Pathway to the Advancement of Nigeria’s Blue Economy,” held in Port Harcourt, said Nigeria has one of the most active maritime sectors because of the oil and gas business and a long stretch of coastline and inland waters.

He said the sector has the capacity to create millions of jobs for the young population and generate enormous wealth for the country, but Nigeria is missing out on opportunities to unlock the sector because it technically relies on foreign certification and standardisation for its operations.

Dr Sylvanus, who decried that the country is losing out in various sectors, said, “If we must unlock the potential, we have to be sovereign. We are a sovereign nation, but we are not technically sovereign. We still depend on technical expertise from foreign nations, so we cannot even standardise our tools. We cannot certify our tools. For us to have our engineers or cadets on board, they have to get foreign certification.”

He thereby advocated for a national vision for maritime development, saying that with the huge human capital, there is a need for a structured pathway towards harnessing it, adding that there is a need for a round-table discussion to fashion a vision to better frame Nigeria’s maritime policy.

Speaking about the conference theme, he said the body is focusing on leveraging digital transformation, IoTs, and innovative solutions to solve maritime challenges.

In his address, the President of the Council for the Regulation of Engineers in Nigeria (COREN), Engr. Prof. Saddiq Abubakar, said the Nigerian maritime domain plays a significant role in trade, logistics, energy exports, naval defence, and blue economy development.

He pointed out that, despite this strategic position, Nigeria’s maritime capacity is constrained by the proliferation of substandard marine engines and equipment, a poor maintenance culture, high failure rates of marine machinery, inadequate shipyard capabilities, and limited local content.

Abubakar also cited weak conformity assessment for imported maritime equipment, fragmented enforcement of engineering and marine standards, and insufficient technical regulations for naval machinery as challenges facing the sector.

He said, “These deficits undermine operational efficiency, increase cost, compromise safety, reduce fleet availability and limit Nigeria’s participation in the global maritime value chain,” adding, “Strengthening standardisation and compliance enforcement is therefore essential for industrial growth, maritime safety, naval protection and global competitiveness.”

He noted some benefits of standardisation to Nigeria’s blue economy, including improved durability of Nigerian-built vessels, expansion of local export potential for local shipyards, and reduced maintenance costs.

The COREN President also emphasised the need to build local capacity and leverage digital services to ease marine operations in the country.

The keynote speaker at the conference, Dr Aladenusi Olugbemiro, emphasised that digital transformation remains essential for Nigeria to build a competitive and globally attractive maritime industry.

He commended NIMENA for playing a crucial leadership role by driving the national conversation from that perspective.