Political economist Pat Utomi has said Nigeria’s maritime industry suffers setbacks because of lack of proper regulatory frameworks to drive the sector to economic prosperity.
He said the sector has not managed to stipulate its possibilities due to leaders and politicians, who see the sector as a meal ticket.
Utomi warned that if Nigeria does not catch up with the trends, and make laws for economic competitiveness, the country would continue to lag behind comity of nations.
He spoke yesterday at a maritime roundtable workshop organised by the NLNG Shipping and Marine Services Limited (NSML) and Utomapp Limited on the theme: “Emerging Technology and Regulations in the Global Maritime Industry of the Future and the Impacts on the Nigerian Sector.”
Rather than leaders see the industry as a cash cow, he said the industry could solve the nation’s economic challenges with its tremendous possibilities.
He said, “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 because 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.”
As the technology change continues to impact the future of the sector in Nigeria, Utomi said some of the technologies that could influence the sector, such as 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 the inefficiencies in the Nigerian port system have led to low productivity, thereby, appealing to regulators and legislators to continue to build their knowledge and liaise with industry clarity of national strategy.
A former minister of interior, capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho (rtd), said technology was the way to go for Nigeria to achieve a prosperous maritime sector.
According to him, technology is vastly encroaching on the delivery of maritime services. “How ready are we? How do we understand technology and what kind of technology is it projecting into the future?”
Iheanacho, who is the managing director of Genesis Worldwide Shipping, said Nigeria needs to start understanding and defining emerging technology that would drive the maritime sector.
He said: “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 managing director of the NLNG Shipping and Marine Services Limited (NSML), Abdulkadir Ahmed, 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, 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.
He maintained that technological advancement and regulations were critical issues fully anchored on the objectives of ensuring a safe, reliable and sustainable industry.