The Sustainable Nigerian Blue Economy – Ecosystem Conference is set to be held between 5th – 7th November, 2024 at the Eko Hotels And Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Alfe City Institution, the organisers of the conference in a statement said it “aspires to bring into focus how a robust maximalist implementation of a sustainable Nigerian Blue Economy would tackle the most critical challenges facing the country today – low productivity, unemployment, transportation infrastructural deficit and economic stagnation.”
Alfe City Institution, a leading promoter of Blue Economy in Nigeria said some of the recommendations from its earlier conferences including the Nigerian Blue Economy Discovery Conference 27-30 November, 2023 were fundamental to the prospect of creating the climate to achieve a sustainable Nigerian economy.
It listed some of the recommendations from the conferences to include; In the short term, government should identify states costal projects that are at advance stages of implementation that could benefit from immediate, specific assistance and support; New ports must be constructed, coastal road and railway networks are of primary importance. The government must therefore consider new alternative for financing and create policy to encourage non-governmental ownership. Government must liberalize ownership and management of ports and other infrastructure to make up for its current fiscal constraints. The PPP efficiency at the moment is constrained by its structure and the subsisting investment environment. The National Assembly should look at the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission regime with a view to how it could be more proactive in its concessionary roles; There are many uncompleted infrastructural development projects along the coast, government should identify those projects that could be immediately revamped; The conference agreed on the urgent need for the National Assembly to create the legislative environment for a sustainable Nigerian Blue by making the relevant legislation to drive the new ecosystem.
Soji Adeleye, Chief Executive Officer, Alfe City Institution in the statement said, “Hope must be visible, there must be a perception that things are different, that the future is bright.
“In the face of the many chronic, socioeconomic challenges facing the country, the anxiety of waiting to find out how the government intend to implement Nigeria’s own Blue Economy is frustratingly stressful.
“The reality of the Nigerian economy is the complete absence of a sustainable foundation. The analogy of a ‘house built without a foundation’ would be apt. The practical question is how do you solve this problem knowing the ‘House’ is also the habitat? A Nigerian Blue Economy is a unique opportunity to engineer a sustainable new foundation for a new Nigerian economy and leverage this to correct the omission of the past.”
He said the ecosystem conference “is really important and made urgent by the recent civil protest #endbadgovernance which is in fact a demonstration of hopelessness in an economy that seems incapable of meeting the basic need and future aspiration of ordinary people.
“The Nigerian Blue Economy Ecosystem is the total sum of the resources of the ocean in our EEZ, the goods and services conveyed in and out by ships through our Seaports, the business of shipping, the infinite renewable energy source – thermal waves.
“It’s the Rivers that deposit the minerals from hinterland into the ocean. It’s the sun, sand and the sea, the airports, the rail, the automobiles network that transports the tourists to the hotels and resorts on the ocean front. It’s all these, the sustainable management of it for the benefit of the people that is the prospective Nigerian Blue Economy Ecosystem.
“Our opinion is that a maximalist interpretation of Nigeria’s own Blue Economy is crucial to meeting the exigencies of the moment. This informed the bringing of all elements of the Blue Economy together for this ecosystem conference to drive the policy formulation and legislation. We believe a potential construction of ten new Ports, Port Cities as part of this broad restructuring – in effect ten new Lagoses would accelerate coastal development, create new centers of economic growth, create avenue for new transportation infrastructural development, provide millions of employment opportunities.
“As a result of the advocacy outreach and continuing engagement established in the last four years of working on a Nigerian Blue Economy, we have extended invitation to all stakeholders – the Federal Government, the National Assembly, the Littoral states, local and international financial institutions, Maritime operators for what we hope would be a defining conference.”
