The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, has held bilateral discussions with ministers and representatives from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Brazil and Jamaica, expressing Nigeria’s interest in learning from them to set up coast guards to secure the country’s maritime space and waterways.

Oyetola also held bilateral meetings with representatives of Greece, Qatar, and Mexico on the sidelines of the ongoing 33rd General Assembly session of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), in London, United Kingdom, a statement said.

During the meeting with the Brazilian Chief of the Navy’s General Staff, Adm José Augusto V. da Cunha de Menezes, Oyetola said Nigeria would want to learn from the operations of the Brazilian coast guards, as the ministry was desirous of setting up one to further secure the maritime space and waterways.

“As we continue to expand and develop the activities of the sector, there will be a need to deepen security architecture within the maritime space. In this regard, we are considering setting up coast guards and we believe that they will complement the existing security architecture to further secure our maritime space,” he said.

Oyetola further noted that Nigeria also focuses on sectors such as marine renewable energy, marine mining, subsea cabling and piping, marine genetics, and biotechnology to grow the marine and blue economy.

The minister while expressing Nigeria’s desire to tap into technology to revolutionise the maritime sector, further said technology and innovation are vital for boosting the country’s trade and investment prospects within the Marine and Blue Economy.

He explained that the advanced marine technologies, including innovations in maritime logistics and smart logistics solutions, will significantly enhance the efficiency and sustainability of maritime transport and port operations, making Nigerian ports more competitive globally.

Oyetola also met the newly elected Vice President of IMO, who is the Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK, Saida Muna Tasneem and Saudi Arabia’s Saleh bin Nasser AIJasser, who is the minister in charge of the Ministry of Transport and Logistics Services of Saudi Arabia, Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Both Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, during the meeting, agreed to sign a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cement their corporations, collaboration and partnership in the maritime space.