The Secretary General of the Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control for West and Central African Region, popularly known as the Abuja MoU, Capt Sunday Umoren has urged shipowners and other maritime investors in Nigeria and other African countries to embrace collaboration, partnerships and joint ventures in other to grow.
In a paper entittled: “Collaboration and Partnership in Driving Blue Economy,” presented at the 4th symposium and workshop of the African Marine Environment Sustainability Initiative (AFMESI) held in Lagos on Tuesday, Capt Umoren stressed that maritime investments require huge capital and to effectively run a profitable business in the sector, investors must be open to various forms of healthy collaborations, such as partnerships and joint ventures.
The Abuja MOU Secretary-General, however emphasised that the maritime sector needs policy strategy, including mapping out of maritime clusters, review of the Merchant Shipping Act, strong regulatory authorities, proper local and international stakeholders engagement, among others.
He said: Collaboration and partnerships could cover the aspects of funding, marketing, technology, sustainability, policy formation and research. Collaboration should be regulated with international best practices. The legality should also cover the maximum percentage share of ownership, employment, repatriation of funds and guided by the principle of fairplay and equity, and country of arbitration, should the marriage fall apart.
“Benefits of collaboration and partnership can range from reduced transaction costs and specialization to improved profitability. There can be no successful impact of the blue economy without a strong enforcement drive.
“The exploitation and exploration of the oceans have the potential of having great impact on the nation’s revenue and GDP.”
However, Umoren noted that the ocean faced multiple challenges due to increasing pressure from human actions and impacts, such as over-exploration, over-exploitation, plastic pollution, overfishing, ocean acidification, and more.
He said these actions are a clear contravention of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
“The restoration of sanity in the maritime domain is through having responsible operators which is often not possible but mostly achievable through enforcement,” he added.
Umoren said for the maritime sector to develop, “the silo mentality” will need to end.
“We need to focus on business growth and investment opportunities and also act responsibly with our focus on SDG 14 – sustainable ocean use in the Blue Economy,” he advised.
