Nigeria's Untapped Potential: Harnessing Coastal and Ocean Resources for Economic Growth

Nov 07, 2025 0

Nigeria’s expansive coastline, stretching 850 kilometers, and its 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone envelop a maritime treasure trove. For years, Nigeria’s oceans promise billions, but that promise has remained just that - a promise.

The policy approval comes at a time when global interest in the blue economy is surging. Globally, the blue economy surges between $2.7tn to $3tn annually and supports over 350 million jobs, with Africa’s share is around $300bn. The ocean economy supports 90 per cent of global trade and provides millions of jobs.

Understanding the Blue Economy

The blue economy is the sustainable use of ocean and coastal resources for economic growth. It integrates environmental, social, economic, and institutional objectives into the use of marine resources. It includes a wide range of sectors and resources related to oceans, seas, coasts, and waterways.

Government Initiatives and Potential Revenue

In 2023, President Tinubu launched the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, targeting N1tn in yearly revenues. Part of the reasons for the creation of the brand new ministry was to ensure economic diversification and sustainable development. The establishment of the ministry reflects the Tinubu-led administration’s firm commitment to harnessing Nigeria’s vast marine resources.

Nweke told The PUNCH on Sunday that Nigeria, with over 853 km of coastline, abundant inland waterways, and immense marine resources, has the potential to generate billions of dollars annually through the blue economy. The recent approval of the National Policy on Marine and Blue Economy is a welcome step, but without a decisive, integrated framework for implementation, Nigeria risks repeating history.

Challenges and Losses

Despite projections that Nigeria could earn over $20bn annually, the sector contributes marginally to gross domestic product due to weak implementation of policies, poor enforcement of maritime laws, underutilisation of related industries like steel, and revenue leakages.

Periodic congested functional western ports, undeveloped ports, abandoned fishing harbours, and underdeveloped inland waterways hamper trade facilitation. According to him, revenue leakages and poor enforcement continue to erode state income.

Nigeria could lose an estimated N130bn annually in customs duties, VAT on imports, and other taxes due to reduced port activity.
Assuming a 20 per cent decline in foreign investment in the logistics sector, Nigeria could lose around N500bn to N1tn in potential investments.
Over $3bn is lost annually to smuggling and illicit activities.

NIMASA once projected $20 billion potential, but the gap remains vast. Existing frameworks like the Cabotage Act and Local Content Law remain weakly enforced. Nigeria underperforms in West and Central Africa despite being Africa’s largest economy.

Failure to integrate the steel industry prevents growth in shipyards, ports, and marine equipment production. Foreign vessels dominate cabotage and offshore trade, exporting jobs and profits. The collapse of Ajaokuta and related plants forces Nigeria to rely on imports for maritime infrastructure.

Fisheries and Aquaculture

While fishing contributes to food security and income, Nigeria lacks modern fish harbors, enforcement, and value chains.

The meeting, which was convened by the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, brought together leaders and members of major fisheries and aquaculture associations, including the Fisheries Cooperative Federation of Nigeria, Tilapia Aquaculture Developers Association of Nigeria, Catfish Farmers Association of Nigeria, Women in Fish Farming and Aquaculture, and the Practicing Farmers Association of Nigeria, among others.

“Nigeria must chart a new course towards self-sufficiency in fish production.

Omatseye reiterated the need for the country to establish a fishing terminal, “Because the challenge they face is that many of the fishing trawlers, the owners give them cash to buy diesel, and whenever they are attacked, the money would be taken away from them.

“There’s also technology now where you can identify exactly where the fish are sitting. So instead of the fish and the trawler going all over the place, they can go to the specific location, trawl, catch their fish, and come back in. So those are the parts that the government is supposed to give to support.

Maritime Security and Infrastructure

The NIMASA’s Deep Blue Project has deployed patrol boats, drones, and coastal radar, achieving several years of zero piracy, which is an essential foundation.

Read also: Indian Ocean Trade and Africa

Speaking on the Nigerian seafarers, Omatseye stressed that the National Seafarers Development Program was a very excellent idea, “The aim was basically for us to also develop our own in-house capacity within Nigeria, because we saw seafaring as a very important thing, whereby we could use it as a means of earning foreign exchange, because we have a youthful population, and we have the ability to train them. Now, the problem we have is that, unfortunately, we have not gone forward to get our white paper. If you don’t go out there and get your Certificate of Competency, your sea time, your certificate is worthless.

“Our certificates are not accepted internationally. That’s why many people are sending our students to a maritime academy in Accra. Because we do not have the white list, even if we have our training institutions, will their certificate be accepted? So there are so many issues that need to be sorted out. And it’s not difficult to sort them out. You take them one at a time. And within a year, you know what the requirements are. You can meet all these requirements.

A shipwoner and the Managing Director of Peace Gate Oil and Gas, Mr. “Why do we have to pay so much money for insurance? And these insurances are not actually done by a Nigerian insurance company. With what has happened in our waters for so many months and we still pay. So you have to understand that the whole idea is about exploiting us and making it very difficult for us to own our own vessels. So, that is just my own take on the insurance issue.

Policy and Strategy

“I want to say one thing, policy is one thing, anybody can write the policy. I can sit down and write one policy, and a good policy, and whatever the case may be, I can do that. But you must have a strategy. You know, there must be a strategy to achieve the policy, and within that strategy, you set KPIs. When they were taking that policy to the Federal Government, they should have also added a strategy involved there.

“With the National Policy on Marine and Blue Economy now approved, the government must pivot from rhetoric to results. The stakes are high: billions in lost revenue, millions of jobs, and Nigeria’s reputation as Africa’s maritime hub. Bold action must now replace political promises.

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

My attention was recently drawn to a statement credited to the Minister of State for Environment, Barr Sharon Ikeazor, and published in the Leadership Newspaper of 17 Sep 20, p.14, captioned “Nigeria Lacks Marine Protected Areas Despite 11,600 sqkm Coastline - Minister”. It was further reported that the Minister observed that the absence of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) prompted the Federal Ministry of Environment (FME) to initiate plans for a National Mangrove Restoration project to assist in the control of coastal erosion, restoration of polluted areas and protecting marine animals.The assertion/lamentation of the Minister is correct and well- founded.

First, Nigeria has a coastline of about 852km and a maritime space of about 315,240sqkm seaward of the baseline. This represents about 34.1 per cent of Nigeria’s landmass of 923,768sqkm. It could also be rightly said that Nigeria’s maritime space is about one-third of Nigeria’s landmass, or Nigeria’s landmass is about 3 times the size of its maritime space.

The fact of the non-existence of MPAs in Nigeria’s maritime domain became evident to me whilst preparing to participate in the First Global Blue Economy Conference in Nairobi, Kenya in 2018, under the auspices of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Further consultation with experts in the FME and the Nigerian Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR) validated the observation that there is no MPA or conservation grounds similar to charted Spoil Areas or Foul Grounds in Nigeria’s jurisdictional maritime zones of Internal Waters (IW), Territorial Waters (TW), Contiguous Zone (CZ) and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an MPA is “a clearly defined geographical space, recognized, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values”.

The UN Database on Protected Areas, which records MPAs submitted by countries, estimates that more than 17,000 MPAs protect more than 25million sqkm of ocean. Another important fact about the MPA is that, MPA is one of the ecological conservation tools known as Area Based Management Tools (ABMTs) adopted for ocean sustainability.

It is instructive to note that of all the ABMTs, only the MPA apply to jurisdictional maritime spaces spanning from internal waters to the EEZ.

The establishment of MPAs is one of the essential hallmarks of the existence of the blue economy in any given national maritime domain. It is in recognition of the centrality of MPAs to the sustainable development of the oceans, that the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 (UNSDG 14) tagged “Life Below Water”, established Targets 14.2 and 14.5, mandating the protection and conservation of at least 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas by 2020.

Nigeria is a signatory to the UNSDG, and is expected to establish MPAs under signatory-treaty obligations. Meanwhile, some of the African signatories to the UNSDG have since established their MPAs.

Thus, it may be fitting to deduce that the non- existence of MPAs in Nigeria’s vast maritime domain is an indicator of the non-adoption/implementation/existence of a blue economy in the country.The lack of knowledge and awareness of the potential economic value of existing marine resources within the maritime domain, referred to as maritime wealth blindness and prevalent in most developing African countries such as Nigeria, is largely responsible for the absence of MPAs in the country’s maritime space.

To establish MPAs in Nigeria’s maritime space, all the relevant stakeholders comprising the NIOMR, Federal Department of Fisheries (FDF), FME, Nigerian Navy (NN), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and coastal communities, amongst others, have to be involved.

In a blue economy, the Marine Spatial Planning Authority (MSPA), designated through government policy and credible legislation, coordinates all the aforementioned activities aimed at establishing a functional MPA within jurisdictional maritime spaces. Nigeria is yet to establish a blue economy through appropriate policy formulation and accompanying legislative enactment.

Coastal Zone Characteristics and Challenges

The Nigeria coastline stretches to a total of eight states, which are estimated to account for 25% of the national population. Based on the morphological, vegetational and beach type characteristics, the coastal zone is classified into four broad regions namely, from west to east, the barrier lagoon coast, the transgressive mud coast, the Niger Delta, and the strand coast. The coastline comprises inshore waters, coastal lagoons, estuaries and mangroves, especially in the Niger Delta area.

The major economic activities in the coastal zone are oil and gas and exploitation, fishing, shipping, agriculture, sand-mining and tourism. The coastal area is dotted by ports and large metropolitan and urban centers including Lagos.

However, coastal zones in Nigeria face a range of challenges, such as coastal erosion, flooding, overexploitation of natural resources, marine and coastal pollution, and mangrove depletion and Nypa palm invasion.

Key Challenges:

Coastal erosion
Flooding
Overexploitation of natural resources
Marine and coastal pollution
Mangrove depletion and Nypa palm invasion

Wetlands and Ecosystem Services

Nigeria has about 853km of coastline which offers flood protection for coastal communities. The coastline equally serve migratory water birds (as resting points during migratory flights) and seas turtles (hatching sites). Consequently, the coastal communities have become important part of our campaign and advocacy. Despite their crucial ecosystem services, the wetlands are seriously under stress and direct encroachment as a result of human activities. We work to preserve the 11 internationally recognised wetlands in Nigeria and by extension, the biodiversities that depend on the ecosystem to thrive.

Specifically, in Hadejia Nguru Wetlands, North-East Nigeria, we work with the community to restore and maintain about 70km of wetlands which supports livelihood for over 1,000 household in 7 communities.

Niger Delta and Environmental Threats

The coastal zone of Nigeria stretches approximately 853 km, and has four geomorphic units and a 210,900 km2 Exclusive Economic Zone. The Niger Delta geomorphic unit is longest (450 km), apparently the richest in biodiversity and mineral resources. The Niger Delta has Africa’s largest expanse of mangroves, which are major breeding and nursery grounds for many commercially important fin and shellfishes, and is rich in biodiversity in the Gulf of Guinea. However, the region’s mangroves are among the most degraded and less conserved.

There are an estimated 37.4 billion barrels of crude oil and 187 tcf of natural gas reserves in the Niger Delta, and crude oil currently accounts for 90% of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings. Oil production activities in the Niger Delta are a major source of land- and marine-based pollution of the coastal zone. Other threats include untreated effluent discharges, reclamation, deforestation, harmful fishing methods, invasive species, and unregulated sand mining. These activities weaken climate resilience, delimit socioeconomic opportunities, and increase coastal erosion vulnerability.

Climate Change and Marine Ecosystems

While much of the global conversation about climate change focuses on deforestation, fossil fuels, and the loss of biodiversity on land, a hidden treasure often gets overlooked: the ocean. Nigeria’s coastline, which spans over 850 kilometers, holds the potential to play a pivotal role in the global fight against climate change.

One of the key ways oceans combat climate change is through carbon sequestration. Coastal ecosystems like mangroves, seagrass beds, and salt marshes are some of the most efficient carbon sinks on the planet. However, these ecosystems are under threat. Rising sea levels, pollution, and unsustainable fishing practices are degrading these carbon sinks, limiting their ability to absorb and store carbon.

Healthy coastlines act as natural buffers against extreme weather events like hurricanes and storms, which are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change. By protecting and restoring coastal ecosystems, Nigeria not only safeguards its local communities from devastating environmental impacts but also strengthens its position in the global climate movement.

Blue economy #sdgs2030

Healthy coastal ecosystems serve as nurseries for countless species, some of which are integral to the balance of marine life worldwide. Nigeria’s mangrove forests, coral reefs, and seagrass meadows provide shelter and breeding grounds for a diverse range of marine life, from fish and crustaceans to sea turtles and migratory birds.

Oceans are connected ecosystems, and what happens in one part of the world can affect marine life thousands of miles away. For example, the health of Nigeria’s mangroves and coral reefs has ripple effects on global fish migration patterns and oceanic currents.

Moreover, marine ecosystems, particularly mangroves and seagrasses, are incredibly effective at protecting coastal regions from the devastating impacts of climate change, such as rising sea levels and extreme weather events. The Lekan Bakare Foundation is working tirelessly to integrate these natural defenses into Nigeria’s broader climate adaptation strategies.

Community Perspectives and Challenges

Standing on the shores of Ibeno in Nigeria’s southern Akwa Ibom state, Ola Oyi gazes at the horizon, his anxious face reflecting years of battling the seas. The ocean has provided for his family for over two decades, but lately, the catch has been relatively meagre.

More than a year later, the ministry has made little to no progress in marine conservation, let alone implemented an inclusive approach for thousands of communities dependent on aquatic resources for their livelihoods. “The environmental management plans are not implemented. Hence, there are no fish in the rivers, and the creeks are polluted. The mangroves that are the nursery grounds for migratory fish are dying because they are suffocating.

In the past year, there were no programmes towards marine conservation, officials said. Environmental activists have expressed alarm over the lack of progress. The government, however, has said it would start with “sensitisation” of communities on marine conservation, and a programme is billed to begin in the coming months.

Bassey said the government’s sustainable conservation must prioritise coastal communities to ensure they benefit from the blue economy. Incentives could include paying locals for ecosystem services and social protection mechanisms to promote conservation and strengthen regulations, he said. Onyema agrees that any projects must be centred around local communities.

“Involving communities is crucial because they understand the terrain and their livelihoods, whether it is farming or fishing, which they’ve practised for generations.

NIOMR's Role

Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR), is a multidisciplinary marine research institute and Nigeria’s prime institute for Marine Sciences. The headquarters of the institute is located at the Bar Beach, contiguous to the Atlantic Ocean.

Oil spillage, which has adversely impacted Nigeria’s coastal and marine environments, requires robust monitoring and rapid response systems to mitigate the resulting ecological damage.