- IMO to adopt long-term strategy for decarbonisation
- Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dr. Bashir Jamoh (left), Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organisation, Kitack Lin, Senior Partner, Akabogu & Associates and Chairman of the organising committee, 2022 Nigeria International Maritime Summit, Dr. Emeka Akabugu, and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Magdalene Ajani (right), at the 2022 Nigeria International Maritime Summit in Lagos…Monday
By Anthony Nwachukwu
The Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, has urged maritime stakeholders to adopt sustainable financing models as key to building critical maritime assets across the country, including shipyards and ports, to harness the blue economy.
In his address at the 2022 Nigeria International Maritime Summit (NIMS 2022), Sambo said the event’s agenda captured “important questions, opportunities and challenges associated with the nation’s quest for achieving a sustainable approach to harnessing the blue economy in Nigeria.”
Top among them, he listed finance as “a critical driver for unlocking the potential of the blue economy in Africa and in particular Nigeria.”
According to him, the country has demonstrated commitment to sustaining the blue economy by adopting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo driving the implementation process of an Expanded Committee on Sustainable Blue Economy in Nigeria (ECSBEN) in order to perfect the agenda for a national strategy.
“This is in addition to the identification of regional and cross-border partnerships necessary for the implementation of the blue economy plan, the relevant sectors, actors and linkages, and the development of a national action plan with an implementation strategy for the Nigerian blue economy.”
Sambo further told the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Mr. Kitack Lin, of Nigeria’s achievements in anti-piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, stating that since the commissioning of the Deep Blue project in June 2021, there has been no piracy incident in the nation’s maritime domain.
On his part, Kitack said he was aware of Nigeria’s significance to the maritime sector of West and Central Africa.
Meanwhile, he described carbonisation as “the greatest challenge of our time, which IMO is working to address,” adding that “the upgrading strategies shall be concluded in July 2023.
“By next year, we shall adopt the long-term strategy. However, prior to that time, we shall continue to support member-countries.”
He further commended the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and the Nigerian Navy for suppressing piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, but urged stakeholders to remain vigilant and maintain capacity building as key to success.
