By Ajibola Adedoye
The creation of Marine and Blue Economy by the Federal Government should have a turnaround for the economy of the country only if the Ministry understands what it entails as the Ministry is big enough to sustain the economy of Nigeria.
Engr. Alalade Matthew Adedapo, the Immediate Past National President, Nigeria Merchant Navy Officers, Water Transport Senior Staff Association who made this submission in an exclusive chat with Daily Insight Nigeria opined that “since the creation of the Ministry by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, apart from what’s on ground, I’ve not seen what motion that has been put in place in harnessing the potentials imbedded in the Ministry, because Nigeria have a lot to gain if the right approach is being adopted.
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According to the seasoned maritime specialist and an astute flag/class surveyor, the Blue Economy entails among others all the ecosystem and mineral resources inside the water. It also entails water transport and tourism which can improve
the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the economy.
“Unfortunately, as far as I’m concerned, the Ministry is yet to set the ball rolling in making this a reality.
Apart from oil and gas, blue and marine economy can singlehandedly sustain Nigeria, in my own perspective, if the ministry understands what it entails they will realize the fact that it is a very big ministry because of its huge potentials.
For instance in maritime transport, we have a lot of reserves on water that can be toured but what we have on ground is what that has been in existence before now, a situation that called for urgent attention from all concerned authorities” he maintained.
The roadmap of transportation in tourism is here, there should be a set up of people that will look at water transportation for instance, to resort centres spread across the country like in Calabar and some part of Northern part of the country where there is tourist attractions, where people can go for vacations and so on.
Ecosystem is another area that can be harnessed in Marine and Blue Economy, by way of regulating our waters and map out areas that should be left for fishing for local consumption and exportation.
So, the Ministry should set up departments to look into this so as to improve their production capacity and not for research purposes alone.