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By Steve Agbota [email protected]
With a coastline of 852 kilometres bordering the Atlantic Ocean in the Gulf of Guinea and a maritime area of over 46,000 km2, Nigeria is no doubt is a blessed maritime nation.
It possesses both fresh and mangrove swamps, creeks, coastal rivers, estuaries, bays, and near and offshore waters. More so, eight out of the 36 Nigerian states, with 25 per cent of Nigeria’s total population, share the Atlantic Ocean coastline.
However, despite these endowments and abundant resources in its oceans and seas to back its economic diversification and development drive the country is yet to take full advantage of these abundant ocean economy resources, especially in the area of maritime tourism to expand its economy.
Consequently, Nigeria is losing out in the massive opportunities inherent in the multibillion maritime tourism.
Daily Sun learnt that apart from other enormous economic resources found in the nation’s oceans, experts say Nigeria has over 200 different species of fishes in its maritime domain with huge economic value, which could centre of attraction for tourists around the world.
Speaking recently at an occasion, the Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Bashir Jamoh, said that Nigeria was lagging behind in maritime tourism compared to other global economies.
According to him, a well-managed tourism sector can contribute to sustainable development, as he called for collaboration between the tourism and maritime sectors in Nigeria.
“I must acknowledge here that tourism is one sector that Nigeria is doing very well. But unfortunately, the marine tourism component is one area where we are currently lagging behind when compared to other economies of the world. I am fascinated, and must commend the organisers of this event because a well-managed tourism sector can support conservation while contributing to sustainable development and providing income opportunities and a higher quality of life,” he said.
He hinted that with the enormous resources inherent in the maritime sector, the tourism industry will be an easy and low-hanging fruit for Nigeria’s economic development agenda.
However, he pointed out that investment must not necessarily involve huge materials and human capital.
He said that like other economic sectors, small and medium-scale businesses could generate a number of jobs and other economic benefits associated with the tourism sector.
He therefore, correlated the relationship between NIMASA, maritime potential and the tourism sector, adding that maritime safety and security were sacrosanct for marine tourism development.
He added that there is a need for stakeholders to support all engagements and policies statement of the government on the preservation of Nigeria’s biodiversity, maritime ecosystem and other endowments, which are valuable assets for marine tourism development. He also stated that he benefits from tourism would only be achieved with security guarantees.
“This could be achieved by closing gaps and linking associated cities through the building of infrastructure, while the bodies of water between them are used for tourist attractions.
“Research shows that the oceans economy is worth about $20 trillion. These include the fishing, pharmaceutical and renewable energy industries. Therefore, we have to develop, preserve and protect our maritime endowments and link these industries appropriately, to achieve the desired goal.
“As an agency of government, NIMASA will always play that complementary role of supporting economic growth and development. We have invested a lot in the acquisition and deployment of maritime security assets. So, I urge stakeholders in the maritime sector to take advantage of what we have done and invest in relevant marine tourism areas because our waters are now safe,” he added.
Speaking with Daily Sun, a tourism expert, Frank Meke said all over the world, there are always a big ship for tourism taking for tour from one place to the other, ships are hardly come to Nigeria, they sail in Capetown, South Africa.
“If one have to do that you have to fly down there before they take you to other part of the country. If we want to talk about maritime tourism in Nigeria, we have to look at Badagry shot and we need infrastructure to drive marine tourism.
“We are blessed in Nigeria. You can see our water ecosystem, eight out of 36 states have electoral communities, which means if you want to exploit water based trip, we have lot to do. Again, we have to Iook at the challenges and the potential in the marine tourism.
eight states out 36, electoral communities. Apart from boating activities, we also have fishery and all those things.
“Remember, New York is an electoral town like many of other countries, they all grow out of water. like Lokoja, Onitsha and Badagry, you see a lot of them that close to the waters. We can build waterfront properties like they do in Europe.
“Banana Island is also one of the benefits of having of an electoral water tourism environment even Lekki and Ikoyi because of their closer to waters. Ikoyi waterfront are only being enjoyed by the rich people because it is expensive to live there,” he said.
However, he said in terms of fancy property, waterfront gives Nigeria advantage in those areas, saying to start up the marine tourism is critical.
In terms of water ecosystem, he said Nigeria has not been doing fishery at all, which is another part the white people are engaging.
“There is sailing club in Lagos island where you see white people there. Apapa is a creation or an example where we can call a tourism waterfront. Before now it is Indian and white people that used to live in Apapa. Maritime tourism is very important in our economy but people are not paying attention to it,” he added.
