Renowned Political Economist, Professor Pat Utomi, has attributed the stunted growth in the nation’s maritime industry to lack of proper regulatory frameworks to make the sector prosperous.
He also said the sector has not managed to stipulate its possibilities due to leaders and politicians who still see the sector as a meal ticket.
Utomi stated this while speaking at a maritime roundtable workshop, organised by the NLNG Shipping and Marine Services Limited (NSML) and Utomapp Limited, held in Lagos.
He spoke on the theme, “Emerging Technology and Regulations in the Global Maritime Industry of the Future and the Impacts on the Nigerian Sector”.
Professor Utomi warned that the country would continue to lag behind in the comity of nations, if it does not catch up with the trends and make laws that can ensure economic competitiveness.
Rather than leaders seeing the sector as a cash cow, he said the maritime industry is capable of solving the nation’s economic challenges with its tremendous possibilities.
“When you have an area that can transform your economy, you do not send boys to go and make money there.
“You find people who are capable of opening the place up and get them to go and transform your country.
“But regulators and people who lead do not understand what they are doing, because there is a challenge of purpose.
“The maritime sector is seen as a place where they send people to go and make money.
“This is an industry where we can solve the problem of this economy because the possibilities are tremendous. There are so many ventures that flow out of the maritime sector,” he said.
Utomi highlighted some of the technological changes that could influence the future of the sector in the country.
He said these include digital platforms for ship and cargo tracking, robotics, blockchain technology, autonomous ships and unmanned ports, as well as big data, Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence.
He said inefficiencies in the Nigerian Port system have led to low productivity. He therefore appealed to regulators and legislators to continue to build their knowledge and liaise with industry clarity of national strategy.
Also speaking, a former Minister of the Interior, Captain Emmanuel Iheanacho, said technology is the way to go for Nigeria to achieve a prosperous maritime sector.
He said technology has vastly encroached on the delivery of maritime services, asking: “How ready are we?
“How do we understand technology and what kind of technology is it projecting into the future?”
Iheanacho, Managing Director of Genesis Worldwide Shipping, said Nigeria needed to start understanding and defining emerging technology that would drive the maritime sector.
“For a prosperous maritime sector, technology was the way to go. It is geared towards getting better output into the input made.
“Goods that are carried on ships are going to be cheaper. The lives of the seafarers are safer, and the environment is projected.
“With these, we will not want to be behind. We want to be at the forefront of defining how this goes,” the former Interior Minister said.
Managing Director of NLNG Shipping and Marine Services Limited (NSML), Abdulkadir Ahmed, also said stakeholders have significant roles to play in ensuring that Nigeria is not left behind in the new global maritime economy.
As strategic leaders and regulators of the maritime industry, he said there is a need to gain a comprehensive understanding of the complexities of the tropical issues.
He added that it is necessary to develop clear actions and guidelines that would guide regulators and place Nigeria on the pathway to success, through a safe, reliable and globally- competitive maritime industry.
Ahmed maintained that technological advancement and regulations are critical issues fully anchored on the objectives of ensuring a safe, reliable and sustainable industry.
He said analysing the issues within the context of the applicability of the nation’s maritime industry is vital, as they are bound to change the operations and dynamics of the sector.
The NSML Managing Director specifically gave instances of progress made by the company under his supervision.
Ahmed said NSML is at the vanguard of promoting the ideas of two issues as they affect its operations as a shipping and marine services company.
He said some measures were put in place for the company to be able to operate safely and efficiently in a deeply regulated and technologically-advanced maritime sector.
Ahmed stressed that it has become imperative that “we ‘future proof’ our people to ensure they possess the proper skills, capabilities and capacity through appropriate training and competency development programmes.”
According to him, compliance with standards and the drive for technological advancement are underpinned by the competence, capability and skill set of the people to achieving safety, efficiency and, ultimately, competitiveness.
During the panel session, the panelists bemoaned the country’s overarching regulations, stating that the regulations have no roadmap in the maritime space.
They cited as an example lack of roadmap on how carbon emissions are measured in shipping.
According to the panelists, solutions have been proffered at different fora but was no action taken by the government to implement the solutions.
