Listen to story here
A former Minister of Interior and Chairman of Integrated Oil and Gas, Capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho, sat down with News Diet magazine to examine some of the critical issues shaping Nigeria’s maritime and blue economy, including indigenous shipping, the Cabotage regime, shipbuilding, marine infrastructure, energy transition and the future of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
In this interview, conducted to commemorate the 2026 World Maritime Day, themed “From Policy to Practice: Powering Maritime Excellence,” the master mariner and shipowner reflects on Nigeria’s progress in translating maritime policies into operational capacity and outlines three priorities he believes government must pursue to achieve sustainable maritime excellence.
Excerpts:
From your experience as a master mariner, shipowner and industry expert, how would you assess Nigeria’s progress in translating maritime policies into actual improvements in competitiveness and operational excellence?
Nigeria is making considerable progress in the transition from policy proposals to actual improvements in operational and safety capacity across various fields of the maritime industry.
We are all witnesses to the major policy triumph represented by the approval to disburse significant capital expenditure to potential shipowners through the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF). It takes great resolve to conceptualise and bring to fruition a complex process like ship ownership and maritime trading.
Even though it has taken a long time, the fact that we have reached this point without losing focus is a major achievement that should be fully applauded. Now that Cabotage empowerment has been actualised, we should next be looking at the policy imperatives for deep-sea capacity development, which remain to be actualised.
With the nation’s expanding domestic refining capacity and positioning itself as a supplier of petroleum products within the region, can Nigeria realistically develop a stronger network of product tankers and coastal shipping?
The development of a stronger network of coastal and deep-sea tanker shipping will logically follow the growth of crude oil refining in the country. As the trade expands, there will be a need for more vessel procurement, with bigger and better ships offering more diverse operating capacities.
The business grows at all levels. In addition to the principal multiplier effect that comes with increased shipping capacity, there should also be growth in shipbuilding and ship-repair capacity.
How would you appraise Nigeria’s ship-repair facilities, shipbuilding infrastructure and marine industrial capacity in terms of their ability to support a competitive maritime economy?
Not very much seems to be happening in that industrial area. With the anticipated growth in shipping activity flowing from the emergence of Nigeria as a tanker-shipping hub, one would have expected to see more investment in shipbuilding and ship-repair capacity.
Instead, we have sadly witnessed the demise of major infrastructure in the country, while the smaller shipyards are similarly experiencing stunted growth.
Nigeria still depends on foreign vessels for significant segments of its maritime trade despite years of local-content and Cabotage policies. What must the government do differently to make ship ownership genuinely attractive to Nigerian investors?
There is a need for a national development-policy reorientation that recognises the primacy of shipping services in Nigeria’s international trade and consequently advocates the commitment of resources to maritime and shipping development.
What is apparent from the progression of this interview is the logical interconnection between various aspects of the marine and blue economy. This imposes a need for greater circumspection in the articulation of our development plans and laws for the sector.
The Cabotage regime was designed to reserve domestic coastal trade for Nigerian operators and stimulate indigenous capacity. Yet, decades later, we have not attained the desired transformation in indigenous shipping. Should Nigeria rethink the current approach to waivers, financing and vessel acquisition?
In light of the problems experienced in the deployment of the Cabotage laws, a review and amendment of some of the provisions have become imperative.
The global shipping industry is transitioning towards cleaner fuels and technologies. How prepared are Nigerian shipowners and maritime businesses for this transition?
We don’t have to spend an overly long time preparing for a change that is becoming inevitable. We have to familiarise ourselves with the changes anticipated and take measures to avoid obsolescence in our response to that change.
What three practical actions should the government implement within the next three years to achieve maritime excellence and what would success look like for Nigeria’s maritime and oil and gas sectors by World Maritime Day 2029?
Success in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry as well as the blue economy in the near future in the near future must be represented by an industrial environment of peace and harmony. This should be underpinned by a technologically up-to-date environment where operational practices and processes follow safe prescriptions, having due regard to the relevant factors of sustainability and inclusion.
As for the three things I would advise the government to do: support the acquisition of more ships to serve Nigeria’s international trade; develop an internationally recognised maritime training curriculum; and invest in shipbuilding industrial capacity.
