Foreign dominance of coastal waters threatens Nigeria’s security

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By Godwin Oritse

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A former Director of Shipping Development and Cabotage, Mr. Boniface Igwe, has warned that the continued dominance of foreign interests in Nigeria’s territorial waters poses a serious threat to the country’s internal security.

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Igwe, in his forthcoming book, Cabotage Law and Practice, argued that the growing presence and dominance of foreign operators in Nigeria’s coastal waters could undermine national security and the country’s maritime sovereignty.

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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.”

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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.

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“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.

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“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.”

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