Amidst efforts to fully tap into the potential in the marine sector, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy Gboyega Oyetola has reiterated commitment to strengthen collaboration with stakeholders to drive the blue economy

The Minister who made the comment yesterday in Abuja at the stakeholders engagement on the roadmap, national maritime and blue economy and strategic plan maintained that the ministry is committed to ensuring safety and security of the people and resources, hence the need to continue to partner and work with the numerous and varied stakeholders both in the public and private space and to ensure maritime safety and security and to safeguard the maritime ecosystem for future generations.

While stressing the need to be innovative in harnessing the enormous potential for development that abounds in the country, Oyetola stressed that the stakeholders engagement was part of steps towards the realisation of the objectives of government in the sector saying the stakeholders has the responsibility to work with the government to forge a viable path towards the actualisation of the opportunity created by the establishment of this Ministry.

He said “As stated in the Vision of the Ministry, we have the onerous task to work to position Nigeria as a premier maritime nation by using the potential of its blue economy to diversify revenue, assure sustainable development, and cultivate environmental stewardship.”

” Our aim today is to spearhead this vision to harness the vast opportunities within the country’s maritime and aquatic domains and lay the foundation upon which strong and sustainable institutions will be built and on which the maritime and blue economy sector will thrive,” he stated.

While mentioning that the outcome of the 3-day retreat will be used as acceptable draft for the Strategic Plan and Road Map and Guideline for the production of a draft National Marine and Blue Economy Policy.

He said “It is, therefore important that we see this assignment as a national cause and treat it with all the seriousness it deserves as the outcome of our engagements and deliberations would have both national and global impact. Permit me to state that our work here today when finished will become part of our nation’s history as we can proudly say we were part of the team which charted a path for the growth of the maritime sector in Nigeria”.

Meanwhile the House Committee Chairman of In-land Waterways Ojotu Ojeme harped on the need for a trust fund the obtain, maintain and secure the water ways, to further boost financial support to the subsector.

He also proposed for the establishment of a specialized institution focused on for the training and standardization of In-land waterways navigation and research, saying the institute is pivotally to improving maritime standards and ensuring personnel are equipped with knowledge and skill to operate vin the inland waterways.

He pointed out that the continued boat mishaps is due to lack of capacity saying there must be an institution responsible for training personnel working in the water transport.

Ojeme stressed that addressing boat mishaps require urgent and decisive actions as it is imperative to implement stringent safety measures, enforce regulation diligently and raise awareness about safe waterways measures.