A former Director of Shipping Development and Cabotage, Mr. Boniface Igwe, has warned that continued foreign dominance of Nigeria’s territorial waters could pose a serious threat to national security. Igwe made the observation in his forthcoming book, Cabotage Law and Practice, where he examined the economic and security implications of foreign operators controlling significant aspects of Nigeria’s coastal trade.
According to him, limiting coastal shipping activities to indigenous operators offers economic opportunities while helping develop domestic capacity. He argued that uncontrolled foreign participation in the sector could undermine Nigeria’s maritime sovereignty and create security concerns.
He said, “apart from the economic opportunities inherent in the practice of reserving coastal shipping trade for indigenous operators, the uncontrolled foreign domination of trade in a country’s coastal waters portends grave national security implementation for that country.”
The forthcoming book also examined the broader rationale behind countries adopting policies that protect domestic participation in strategically important industries. The unreleased book reads in part: “The idea of countries creating captive markets for their indigenous stakeholders for the purpose of developing capacity in critical sector of their economies and making them globally competitive is commonplace.
“The historical reason for this interventionist policy template ranges from economic, through political, to security considerations. There is no gainsaying the criticality of the maritime industry to the economic growth of Nigeria as it provides the interface between it and the oil and gas industry which is the lifeblood of the nation’s economy.”
The maritime sector plays a significant role in Nigeria’s connection to international commerce and the oil and gas industry. Igwe’s argument centres on the need to develop indigenous capacity in coastal trade as part of broader economic and national security considerations. The former shipping official further cited statistics on the scale of cargo movement and associated earnings in Nigeria’s maritime sector.
“Statistics revealed that an average cargo traffic of 152 million metric tonnes approximating $5billion in freight earnings was generated annually in the country and close to 90 percent of this income was earned by foreign controlled businesses.”
The figures cited by Igwe point to the substantial economic value associated with maritime transportation and freight activities in Nigeria. His comments come within the broader context of Nigeria’s Cabotage regime, which was designed to encourage indigenous participation in domestic maritime transportation and build local capacity in the sector.
The warning also raises questions about the relationship between economic control of territorial waters and national security. For Nigeria, the issue extends beyond revenue retention to the development of domestic maritime expertise and the country’s ability to exercise effective control over its coastal domain. Igwe’s forthcoming book is expected to provide further discussion of the implementation and implications of Nigeria’s Cabotage framework.
