Innovation Key to Nigeria’s Future-Ready Maritime Sector, Says Okorefe

Innovation Key to Nigeria’s Future-Ready Maritime Sector, Says Okorefe

 

Lucky Akra

 

Nigeria must embrace innovation, disruptive technologies and human-capital development to position its maritime industry for sustained growth and global competitiveness, maritime expert Dr. Charles Okorefe has said.

Okorefe made the call while delivering the keynote address at the 2026 Conference of the Association of Maritime Journalists of Nigeria (AMJON),held at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja, Lagos, on Friday, September 4, 2026.

Speaking on the theme, The Power of Innovation in a Future-Ready Maritime Training Agenda,Okorefe commended AMJON for selecting what he described as a timely and critical subject for the Nigerian maritime industry.

He said Nigeria occupies a strategic position in West and Central African maritime activities, accounting for an estimated 70 per cent of international shipping and maritime trade in the sub-region, including oil and gas-related activities.

According to him, Nigeria also plays a critical role in maritime security within the Gulf of Guinea, particularly through the Nigerian Navy and the Deep Blue Project, which he said had contributed significantly to improving security in the region since 2021.

He, however, challenged stakeholders to determine whether Nigeria was doing enough to translate its strategic advantages into global maritime leadership.

Okorefe posed three critical questions to stakeholders: Where does Nigeria’s maritime sector currently stand amid rapid technological and digital disruptions? What is being done differently to move the industry from a reactionary to a proactive posture? And will Nigeria be able to compete with maritime nations that have successfully created global niches for themselves?

He said answering the questions was essential to determining the future direction of the sector.

Defining innovation as the process of transforming creative ideas into practical solutions, Okorefe said innovation should ultimately improve efficiency, reduce waste and lower operational costs.

He stressed that innovation must therefore occupy a central position in preparing Nigeria’s maritime sector for the future.

He also highlighted the growing importance of the Blue Economy,which is anchored on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14, focused on the sustainable use and protection of oceans and marine resources.

According to him, Nigeria’s Blue Economy presents opportunities across fisheries and aquaculture, tourism, maritime transport, shipping and port operations, renewable energy, biotechnology and coastal infrastructure.

He noted that the creation of the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy in August 2023 had generated significant expectations about the economic potential of Nigeria’s marine resources.

Okorefe pointed to the country’s approximately 853-kilometre coastline, extensive inland waterways and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as assets capable of supporting substantial economic activity.

He also referenced the approval of Nigeria’s National Policy on Marine and Blue Economy in 2025, while challenging stakeholders to assess how competitive Nigeria currently is across the various sectors of the Blue Economy.

The keynote speaker urged Nigerian maritime stakeholders and entrepreneurs to look beyond compliance with international conventions and identify opportunities for innovation and enterprise within them.

He identified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), MARPOL, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as important frameworks with implications for Nigeria’s maritime development.

He said UNCLOS provides a legal framework governing Nigeria’s EEZ and could support opportunities in aquaculture, offshore logistics and other marine activities, while also strengthening efforts to protect marine investments and resources.

On MARPOL, Okorefe said environmental requirements imposed on shipping created opportunities for Nigerian businesses in areas such as vessel waste management, eco-friendly fuels, recycling, port reception facilities, consultancy and compliance training.

He similarly identified opportunities under the Convention on Biological Diversity in eco-tourism, mangrove restoration and biodiversity-friendly aquaculture.

The AfCFTA, he said, provides Nigerian businesses with access to a vast continental market, particularly for processed seafood, aquaculture products and coastal logistics services that satisfy the agreement’s rules of origin.

“These conventions,” he argued, “are clear business signals” requiring innovative approaches to unlock the gains of the Blue Economy and strengthen Nigeria’s presence in the continental and global maritime economy.

Okorefe also challenged members of AMJON to adopt more innovative approaches to maritime journalism and industry reporting.

While commending the association for organising the conference, he said simply reporting events and covering press conferences was no longer sufficient to drive the level of change required in the sector.

He urged maritime journalists to ask difficult and uncomfortable questions, while maintaining objectivity, courage, candour and professional integrity.

According to him, journalists have a major role to play in holding industry operators and policymakers accountable and ensuring that they remain focused on the growth and development of the maritime sector.

He also encouraged journalists to pursue investigative reporting and exclusive stories, describing scoops as part of the cutting edge of professional journalism.

Okorefe finally said the traditional ways of conducting maritime business could no longer adequately address the challenges confronting the industry.

He identified Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, the Internet of Things, Robotics and Big Data, among other emerging technologies, as tools that would increasingly shape the future of maritime operations and training.

He called for greater investment in research, infrastructure and human-capital development to enable Nigerian maritime operators to keep pace with rapidly changing global realities.

“The time to act is now,”Okorefe declared, stressing that innovation must move from discussion to practical implementation if Nigeria is to secure a competitive place among leading maritime nations.