The directive was issued during a Presidential Parley with participants of Senior Executive Course (SEC) 47 of NIPSS at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja, where the President was represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima.
In a statement signed by Stanley Nkwocha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Communications (Office of the Vice President), President Tinubu described the blue economy as “a strategic pathway for diversifying our revenue base, creating sustainable employment and revitalising the ecosystems that sustain national development.”
“If properly harnessed, this sector could become an anchor of shared prosperity for generations,” the President declared, adding: “These opportunities lie within our grasp if we act with discipline and intentionality.”
He praised the NIPSS study as “for its depth, clarity and actionable insights,” noting that Nigeria’s 853-kilometre coastline, extensive Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of over 210,900 km², and strategic location in the Gulf of Guinea present unrivalled potential in aquaculture, modernised ports, coastal tourism, marine biotechnology, offshore renewable energy, and maritime trade corridors.
President Tinubu highlighted the creation of the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy in August 2023 as a deliberate structural reform to drive the sector, stating that the new ministry has already begun overhauling port infrastructure, enhancing maritime domain awareness, and crowding in private-sector investment.
However, he warned that economic gains would remain elusive without decisive action against persistent maritime crimes. While acknowledging that piracy incidents in Nigerian waters dropped 77% between 2021 and 2024 under the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure (Deep Blue Project), he stressed that oil theft, illegal unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, smuggling, pipeline vandalism, and sea kidnapping continue to cost the country billions of dollars annually.
“These threats are real, and this Administration is taking decisive steps to address them,” the President said.
In a major follow-up directive, President Tinubu tasked the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, to lead an inter-ministerial committee that will, within an agreed timeline, harmonise all existing legal and policy frameworks, develop a comprehensive Blue Economy Financing Strategy, and submit a consolidated implementation policy paper directly to his office.
“The policy paper shall be submitted to my office within an agreed timeline, and it will receive the utmost attention,” he directed.
Beyond maritime issues, the President expanded NIPSS’s mandate by assigning the institute to immediately undertake a comprehensive nationwide security diagnostic. The new study, to be completed within six months, will examine systemic weaknesses across Nigeria’s security architecture and propose bold, implementable reforms.
Earlier, the Acting Director-General of NIPSS, Professor Ayo Omotayo, thanked President Tinubu for sustained support to the institute and commended the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, for facilitating the SEC 47 research team’s extensive fieldwork, which covered 18 Nigerian states and study tours to 14 countries including Norway, Singapore, Seychelles, Mauritius, Indonesia, and the Netherlands.
Presenting the syndicate’s findings, Colonel Murktar Dauda (rtd), leader of Research Team 3, revealed that Nigeria currently produces only 1.2 million metric tonnes of fish annually against a domestic demand of 3.6 million metric tonnes, resulting in an annual import bill of over $1.5 billion.
The team recommended the urgent launch of a National Fisheries and Aquaculture Expansion Programme with a target of scaling domestic fish production to 10 million metric tonnes within 24–36 months through public-private partnerships, concessional financing, and establishment of 37 industrial fishing clusters across coastal and riverine states.
Other key recommendations include:
- Immediate harmonisation of over 47 overlapping maritime laws and policies into a single Blue Economy Act
- Establishment of a N500 billion Blue Economy Development Fund seeded by 0.5% of Federation Account revenues and sovereign green bonds
- Full operationalisation of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund and Ship Acquisition and Shipbuilding Fund
- Deployment of satellite-based Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) and Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) across all Nigerian-flagged vessels
- Creation of Blue Economy Skills Acquisition and Job Creation Scheme targeting 2 million direct and indirect jobs by 2030
- Designation of 200 nautical miles of Nigeria’s EEZ as Marine Protected Areas to restore depleted fish stocks
The NIPSS report estimates that with disciplined implementation, the blue economy could contribute up to $25 billion annually to Nigeria’s GDP by 2035 and create over 5 million sustainable jobs, particularly for women and youth in coastal communities.
Vice President Shettima, while receiving the report on behalf of the President, assured participants that “every recommendation will be rigorously interrogated and the implementable ones fast-tracked,” adding that the Tinubu administration views the blue economy not as an optional sector but as “the next frontier of Nigeria’s economic renaissance.”
Also present at the event were Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, Chief of Staff to the President Femi Gbajabiamila, several cabinet ministers, service chiefs, and traditional rulers.
The Presidential Parley with SEC 47 is the culmination of a 10-month intensive study by 92 senior public and private sector executives, military officers, and security operatives selected from across Nigeria and the ECOWAS region.
With crude oil revenues continuing to face global headwinds, analysts say President Tinubu’s aggressive push to unlock Nigeria’s marine and aquatic resources may prove one of the defining economic legacies of his administration.
