“Indeed, despite its fiscal constraints—and to echo the theme of this year’s World Ocean Day—Nigeria can turn the tides (partly) by developing its blue economy.”\
OLADEINDE OLAWOYIN FROM PREMIUM TIMES
A few years ago, while investigating the underlying causes of the disappearance of certain fish species in the Nigerian Ocean, I was struck by the ripple effect of our neglect of the ocean and the economic potential inherent in the blue economy. While conducting the research, I met fishermen in the Badagry and Makoko areas of Lagos, who all agreed that some fish species were gradually going extinct due to certain human practices militating against their survival, notably land reclamation and our poor management of plastic waste.
According to the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nigeria generates some 32 million tonnes of waste annually, among Africa’s highest. The numbers correlate with that of a United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) report. More worrisome is the fact that of the waste generated yearly, 2.5 million tonnes is plastic waste, most of which (70 per cent) ends up in landfills, sewers, beaches and water bodies.
The environmental impact of this practice alone is, to put it mildly, discomforting because the toxic chemical additives and pollutants found in plastics threaten human health on a global scale. The health effects, already proven by science, range from its propensity to cause cancer or change hormone activity (known as endocrine disruption), which can lead to reproductive, growth, and cognitive impairment.
Researchers estimate a loss of 1-5 per cent in marine ecosystem services due to plastic pollution, and the reduction equals a loss of about $500 billion to $2.5 trillion per year.
In Nigeria, the economic impact of poor handling of ocean resources has been most significant. For instance, in 2019, some Nigerian maritime experts said Nigeria lost about 80 per cent of her fishing industry capacity to neighbouring countries in the Gulf of Guinea region following the persistent threat of maritime security concerns, low policing of inland waters and constant pollution of waters. Kunle Folarin, chairman of Port Consultative Council (PCC), expressed concerns about investment in the nation’s fishing industry as the number of fishing trawlers operating on the nation’s waters dropped from 125 to 25 amid dwindling fishing capacity.
In the same year, the Africa Blue Economy Forum (ABEF) revealed that plastic pollution alone costs $13 billion a year in damages to marine ecosystems, adding that “90 per cent of ocean plastic waste originates from Asia and Africa, mainly due to mismanagement of waste and can be traced to just ten rivers, including River Niger.” Of course, River Niger runs in a crescent shape through Mali, Niger, on the border with Benin, and then through Nigeria.
Earlier in 2018, the World Economic Forum (WEF) noted that Nigeria was estimated to have discharged 200,000 tons of plastic waste into the ocean, which should have been converted into wealth. Plastics impact fisheries through the dumped catch, fouling incidents, net repairs and time lost cleaning nets, among other limitations.
Against this background, it becomes imperative for the nation to pay more attention to its oceans and the inherent potential of the blue economy amid concerns over fiscal sustainability and other economic challenges.
A few days ago, precisely on Thursday, June 8, the world celebrated World Ocean Day, an international day that takes place annually to identify that the ocean sustains all life on the planet and calls attention to the numerous threats to its future. The concept was originally proposed in 1992 by Canada’s International Centre for Ocean Development and the Ocean Institute of Canada at the Earth Summit.
According to the United Nations, the ocean produces at least 50 per cent of the planet’s oxygen and is home to most of Earth’s biodiversity. It also provides the main source of protein for more than a billion people worldwide, just as it is central to the global economy, with an estimated 40 million people being employed by ocean-based industries by 2030. But despite its potential, the Ocean faces threats in activities such as fisheries, ship strikes, plastic pollution, habitat degradation, and climate change.
There are concerted efforts among global organisations and thought leaders to protect and conserve the ocean and related water resources, all in line with this year’s World Ocean Day theme – “Planet Ocean: Tides are Changing”.
I attended a workshop recently in Calabar wherein I learnt about a new United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded project titled ‘Watershed Protection for Safe and Sustainable Water Supply’, designed to increase water security and resilience of 137 communities and ecosystems that depend upon the Cross River Watershed in Cross River State and the Pai River Watershed in Bauchi State. According to Andrew Dunn, the Country Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society in Nigeria, the project would ensure that local communities and civil society organisations are engaged in managing their natural resources and watersheds to provide improved opportunities for economically viable and sustainable livelihoods.
Beyond such initiatives, World Ocean Day also presents an opportunity for cash-strapped Nigeria to think through its blue economy agenda and how best to maximise its potential to engender growth, create opportunities across the value chain, protect the oceans, create new jobs, and stimulate the economy. For far too long, the nation has failed to tap into the vast potential available in the ecosystem as a means to shore up dwindling oil revenue.
Interestingly, although more interventions need to be made, the failure of the Nigerian state to tap into its blue economy isn’t necessarily because of the absence of a policy to drive actions within the ecosystem. In January 2022, Nigeria launched the Expanded Committee on Sustainable Blue Economy with the mandate to recommend how to strengthen the governance framework and infrastructure of the maritime sector in Nigeria. But not much seems to have been done in actual terms in that regard.
