The MOWCA SG says Nigeria’s Niger Delta should export refined products, petrochemicals, gas-based products, processed agricultural commodities, manufactured goods and maritime services.
By Blue Africa News
The Secretary-General of the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA), Dr Paul Adalikwu, wants Nigeria’s Niger Delta region to be positioned as a gateway to the West and Central African maritime economy, saying the region must move beyond its traditional identity as an oil-producing hub within the West African country.
Adalikwu said Niger Delta’s hydrocarbons, waterways, wetlands, coastline, ports, fisheries, entrepreneurial communities and young population are extraordinary assets that can not only spur Nigeria’s economy, but the entire West and Central African blue economy if well harnessed.
The region’s location on the Gulf of Guinea, the MOWCA SG said, should be treated as a strategic economic asset linking some of Africa’s most important producing and consuming markets.
“Imagine a region where agricultural products from inland communities are transported through efficient waterways to processing centres, from processing centres to logistics hubs, and from those hubs through modern ports into regional and international markets,” he said, according to the lensng.com.
The Secretary General spoke during the inaugural Niger Delta Economic and Investment Summit (NDEIS) held on September 15-17 at the Obi Wali International Conference Centre in Port Harcourt.
It was organised by the Niger Delta Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Trade, Mines and Agriculture (NDCCITMA) in partnership with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) under the theme of “Driving Investment, Innovation and Industrial Growth in the Niger Delta.”
As home to over 30 million people, the Niger Delta contributes more than 90% of Nigeria’s oil revenues, and holds one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the African continent.
The region’s key investment sectors are agro-industrial development and food security, blue economy and marine industries, oil, gas and energy transition, manufacturing, industrialisation and special economic zones, tourism, culture and the creative economy, and tourism, culture and the creative economy.
However, its vast agricultural potential, blue economy assets, manufacturing opportunities, and emerging digital sector have remained largely untapped, with Dr Adalikwu noting that the real determinant of prosperity is the “ability to transform resources into productive assets, industries, jobs, trade and investment returns.”
He said: “We must move from extraction to value addition; from isolated projects to integrated economic systems; and from dialogue to bankable deals,” adding that the region should no longer merely export crude oil.
“It should export refined products, petrochemicals, gas-based products, processed agricultural commodities, manufactured goods, maritime services and knowledge. Waterways should become economic corridors, and the coastline the base of a competitive maritime economy.”
As an organization representing over 20 countries in West and Central Africa among them Nigeria, Cameroon, The Gambia, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Togo, Adalikwu said MOWCA is ready to support maritime connectivity, safety and security, ports and shipping, inland waterways, human-capacity development, ship repair, blue-economy investment and the harmonisation of maritime policy not only in the Niger Delta region, but across MOWCA’s member states.
“We should increasingly think of the Gulf of Guinea not simply as a maritime security space, but as an economic production and connectivity space. Security must create the conditions for commerce; commerce must create prosperity; and prosperity must reinforce stability,” he noted.
The SG, speaking during the inaugural Blue Africa Conference and Exhibition (BACE) in Lagos, Nigeria last month, said MOWCA is advancing a proposal for an African Maritime Bank (AMB) coming from the realization that there will be no transformation in Africa’s maritime sphere without finance.
“Africa cannot build competitive ports, fleets, shipyards, and blue industries on external capital alone. MOWCA is therefore advancing the proposal for a Maritime Bank of Africa. Its mandate is simple: finance Africa’s maritime future. It would support ports and logistics infrastructure, African shipping fleets, shipbuilding and repair facilities, fisheries and aquaculture, offshore energy and renewables, maritime technology and digital systems, maritime security infrastructure and skills and education,” said the SG.
Oliver Ochieng, Blue Africa News
