Sustainable Maritime Transport Vis-a-Vis Capability Gap for Cabotage Operations in Nigeria

Abstract

The tenet of  Cabotage operations since its enactment is believed to guarantee rapid industrial and economic developments in Nigeria. In order to experience sustainable development, Nigerian maritime industry must position herself in the committee of maritime nations for all round developments. However, the capability in form of ship building, ship manning, ship registration and ship ownership has been worrisome. This paper has therefore, been set out to investigate reasons for non-functionality of Cabotage Act and identify way forward for sustainable maritime development in Nigeria. Population of stakeholders for data collection through structured goggle forms linked questionnaires comprises ship-owners, oil marketers, seafarers, officials of Nigerian Ports Authority and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). Targeted population of 980 was reduced to 203 using Cochran Formulae for sample size with stratified sampling technique. The statistics of the responses on some major questions were provided in a table. Histogram presented the solutions that can put the Nigerian maritime industry on the right track of sustainable development. It is not certain that Nigeria can fully implement version of U.S Cabotage because of ship building capability rather to develop a unique method in form of partnership that will domicile foreign collaboration with the existing Shipbuilding Companies. Providing refundable loan to indigenous ship owners under Public Private Initiative will go a long way to set the country on the right track. All the factors analysed about the way forward are to be examined with the involvement of relevant stakeholders.