By Ayodele Johnson

The searchlight swings on and seeks to focus a beam on opportunities lying below Nigeria’s blue economy. It is happening through a deep dive into avenues to gain a share in the USD$1.5 trillion blue economy global market which will assist in truly diversifying Nigeria’s earning routes. President Bola Tinubu is leading a unique expedition – a first – across his country’s 350 nautical miles of water alongside a key, newly built cabinet minister.

Three-hundred and fifty nautical miles is such a huge coverage of sea to own as a possession but most parts of this remain largely untapped. In Nigeria, the fishery isn’t living up to the massive boost it can give to tackling severe youth unemployment or to feature as a reliable, readily-available alternative different from beef; neither are the coastal communities seeing the protection of their environment against severe pollution and climate change.

Addressing all the anomalies appeared to be the new president’s vision when he created the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy. The end product will lead to a complete stock-taking of what lies below Nigeria’s blue economy.

In 2015, the United Nations (UN) set 17 targets it calls the Global Goals. They are a list of themes covering mostly everything that matters to human existence including safe and sustainable worlds. The UN wants to check off these boxes by 2030 and one of the intended milestones pictures healthy oceans and seas as being essential to wellbeing. It is captured under the fourteenth objective, which features the quest to help build a sanctuary for life below water. This is why the realignment ongoing in Nigeria is welcoming. There is renewed hope for future generations after all.

As much as 40 percent of the ocean, says the UN, is heavily affected by pollution, depleted fisheries, loss of coastal habitat, and other human activities. Those are the issues caused by a lack of a framework to engender the blue economy. Now, to explain what it means.

What is the Blue Economy?

A “sustainable use of ocean resources to benefit economies, livelihoods, and ocean ecosystem health” is how the World Bank imagines what the result will be when Nigeria rips through assets lying below its blue economy. It involves these activities: tourism, renewables, marine transportation, waste management, fisheries, and climate change mitigation.

These groups have shown links to prosperity, hence why preserving sea life is on the front burner. It is the part away from poverty and also provides assured sustainability for developing countries like Nigeria which has a climate pact to adhere to. Here is what the country will benefit from after a dive into its blue economy.

Benefits to Nigerian households

1. Alternative Energy Sources

Gen Zers were still learning their position in the world when suddenly a war broke out on Europe’s Eastern front. Russia started an invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The fallout of this is costly and limited wheat to make bread in Nigeria and the price of petrol or gas shot through the roof. Sea-borne blockades and disruptions in energy outputs have brought on global inflation. All these vices can lose their potency with the simple administering of an elixir — offshore wind energy which can be generated by installing turbines that generate up to 2-3 MW in power for households and businesses. Installing most turbines range between $2-4 million dollars.

2. Drives Food Security

Fish and a variety of proteinous edibles are other elements lying below Nigeria’s blue economy. They offer a path to depart away from emission-prone livestock farming that has led troops of the White Fulanis to the butcher’s stable. Limited rainfall nowadays affects both plants and land animals. A cow can produce up to 99 kg of methane gas per year and their access to long fields of shrubs is closing. Beyond cutting down methane emissions which Nigeria is a major contributor to, a switch to a fish diet reduces health risks that are linked with beef consumption. Enabling the blue economy, therefore, has a role to play.

3. Unlock Jobs

Every aspect of blue economy exploitation comes along with a demand for manpower. It needs fishermen to cast their nets, wind turbine engineers to install many offshore outposts, and scientists to expand the research on wind energy capabilities. All of these tie to Nigeria’s contribution to global innovations through the export of ideas.

4. Preserving Water-based Tourism

After the grind comes the calm. The way tourists need a collage of destinations where they can go clear their heads. Sadly, sea-level rise has battered many beaches and the host communities can no longer put up a fight against hostile seas. Where coastline deterioration has occurred, the residences around are seized by the ocean, and there goes their potential for tourism. In the few instances where there were actions, like the Great Wall of Lagos, it has supported the emergence of the Eko Atlantic City as an attractive piece of real estate that was reclaimed from the ocean and reinforced through groynes built to deter the flow of water towards human habitation. Investments in the depths of Nigeria’s blue economy would certainly mean hope for tourism because of the conscious effort to preserve ocean life. That which makes ship cruises, underwater exploration and sports, a possibility.

Ayodele Johnson

Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.