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By Steve Agbota
Senior Partner at Olisa Agbakoba Legal (OAL), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), has said that Nigeria is losing about N8 trillion annually to over 25,000 foreign vessels illegally trading in Nigeria’s coastal waters due to lack of Cabotage enforcement in the nation’s maritime sector.
Agbakoba, who revealed this in a policy statement on legal, regulatory and institutional reform to pool revenue to drive the Marine and Blue Economy, said that the figure represents both a national security challenge and a massive economic loss.
Agbakoba, who is the founder and first President of the Nigerian Shipping Chamber of Commerce, stated that the National Policy specifically recommends reviewing the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act 2003, strengthening institutions for effective enforcement, encouraging inter-agency synergy for implementation, and streamlining access to the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF).
“To capture this opportunity requires amending the Cabotage Act (2003) to establish strict enforcement mechanisms and compliance requirements, with penalties including vessel seizure for violations, thereby ensuring Nigerian-crewed vessels constitute 50 per cent or more of coastal trade and preventing the ongoing haemorrhaging of revenue to foreign operators.
“Strengthening inter-agency collaboration between NIMASA, NPA, NIWA, the Nigerian Navy, Marine Police, and security agencies for better governance and coordinated enforcement; and establishing a National Blue Economy Commission as a centralized body to coordinate activities across the ministries of transport, environment, fisheries, petroleum, and trade, and develop marine economic zones to attract investments,” he said.
He added that revenue streams include registration fees from Nigerian-flagged vessels under NIMASA, fees from foreign vessels operating in Nigerian waters under the Cabotage Act, seafarers’ certification and training fees from maritime workers and companies, and increased domestic shipping revenues from Nigerian vessels.
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However, he disclosed that the nation’s maritime sector can generate about N70 trillion annually through improved governance and regulatory frameworks.
According to him, Nigeria’s maritime sector presents extraordinary opportunities currently unrealised due to legal and regulatory gaps.
He said that the Nigerian maritime sector presents N70 trillion revenue opportunities, which can be contributed to the nation’s GDP.
He added that the transformative element of this proposal is that the National Policy on Marine and Blue Economy (2025–2034) already contains most of the required legal and institutional reforms needed to capture these opportunities.
“The maritime sector is potentially Nigeria’s largest economic sector outside oil and gas. The Nigerian Institution of Marine Engineers and Naval Architects (NIMENA) projects that the maritime industry could contribute approximately $44 billion (N70 trillion) annually to Nigeria’s GDP with improved governance and regulation. However, we are currently losing enormous revenue due to inadequate legal frameworks, poor infrastructure, and insufficient private sector participation.
“The adoption of the National Policy on Marine and Blue Economy (2025–2034) by the Federal Executive Council is most welcome. The policy document contains comprehensive recommendations for legal and regulatory reforms.
“What is now needed is decisive implementation to unleash the sector’s tremendous potential. It is within this implementation context that I write to present specific, revenue-generating interventions that can accelerate the policy’s objectives and deliver quantifiable outcomes within one year,” he said.
