During a recent shipping business event in Nigeria tagged, Nigeria Maritime Expo
(NIMAREX), one of the Africa’s biggest maritime events in the country, the
organisers of the event made it known that they were worried by the increasing
foreign domination of shipping business in Nigeria.
Furthermore, they indicated interest in pursuing growth and increased local
participation in the Nigerian Maritime industry.
The annual international exhibition and conference, hosted by the Nigeria
Shipowners and the Federal Ministry of Transport, in collaboration with other
stakeholders in the maritime industry, is an ideal forum to showcase products,
services, new technologies, networking and unlocking real business opportunities in
the country.
A key objective of NIMAREX is to showcase maritime accomplishments and create
awareness of the opportunities available in Nigeria. Attendees were encouraged to
view the conference and exhibition as something more than just a corporate event,
but a strategic meeting point for all key stakeholders within the Nigeria Maritime
sector, aimed at fortifying the local shipping industry.
Foreign countries, especially some in Europe are interested in helping the Nigerian
maritime industry to sustain human capacity development efforts. Already, the human capacity drive of NIMASA is laudable. However, the technology support that Nigeria can get from foreign countries is laudable and will greatly aid growth of the industry.
Recently, an Austrialian envoy stated that Australia was particularly interested in the
provision of technical support and human capacity development. Also, the
Norwegian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Rolf Ree, stated his country’s readiness for
the provision of technical support to NIMASA towards realising the full potential of
the Nigerian maritime industry.
Commendably, leaders in the shipping industry have unanimously stated they would
appreciate partnership with major maritime nations such as Australia and Norway
particularly in the area of capacity building. So far, the support that Nigeria has been
getting from Europe has been of immense benefit to the Nigerian maritime local
sector. But it is hoped that the good relationship should be maintained so as to help
Nigeria to continue to grow its maritime potential more effectively.
One notable area of acclaim for the shipping industry in Nigeria is the improvement
in monitoring Nigeria’s maritime domain in real time using a satellite surveillance
system that covers the whole of Nigeria’s coast and the Gulf of Guinea.