Mr. Emeka Akabogu is a widely recognized expert in the field of maritime law and policy in Nigeria and leads the resourceful and enterprising team at Akabogu & Associates. He holds a law degree from the University of Lagos and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2000. He also holds a Masters degree with a specialization in Maritime Laws from the University College London.

He has researched and represented clients in related and cross-cutting fields of law including maritime, shipping, international trade, energy, logistics, aviation, and intellectual property. He brings a robust, incisive, and problem-solving perspective to client challenges, setting the tone for the firm’s service delivery.

When Maritime Nigeria asked him One Question on his expectations from the incoming minister of transport, the erudite lawyer did not hesitate to respond thus:

The Person

“Nigeria’s maritime sector needs a minister who is desirous of leaving a legacy; of making positive change. He should be intelligent enough to gain quick understanding of the industry, and have the balls to make tough decisions irrespective of who may be affected”.

“He should be a respecter of the rule of law, and pay attention to statutory mandates of the respective agencies. He should be a leader able to give strategic direction even in the face of conflicts in regulatory mandates of agencies. He should be able to limit the tendency of territoriality by the agencies, without interfering in their day-to-day affairs”.

The Challenge

“The minister’s focus should be optimizing wealth creation opportunities in the Nigerian maritime sector. In this regard, I expect that he should prioritise facilitating access to wet and dry freight by Nigerians through implementation of extant preferential freight provisions in our law, in addition to promotion of inland shipping”.

“He should seek cooperation with the Ministries of Trade and Finance in expedited implementation of the country’s trade facilitation commitments under the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), while ensuring the Nigerian Ports Authority meets its service and infrastructure obligations in aid of increased exports”.

“He should undertake an expansive mapping of the Nigerian maritime industry to clearly identify and profile all maritime service clusters, and use the harvested data to attract West and Central African shipping interests to do business in the country as the region’s maritime hub”.

“The incoming minister should ensure there is an active and interconnected port service community platform by building and deploying port information management systems managed by the Nigerian Shippers Council or the Nigerian Ports Authority or both organisations”.

“He should fully harness the benefits of Nigeria’s oil and gas economy for the maritime industry, something no previous minister has really made efforts in regard thereof”.

“The next transport minister should consult professionals and pay attention to development of capacity across the industry. There are many other important areas to address. But if he focuses on even half of what I have mentioned with commitment and sincerity, he will be the most effective Transport minister in Nigerian history”.

Maritime stakeholder are watching and waiting to see who wears the ministerial cap to oversee the industry in the coming days.