As Former of Chief Naval Staff, Other Experts Drill and Thrill Cadets

The Rector and Rear Admiral FD Akpan (rtd) during the Blue Economy Week at MAN

The Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), as part of efforts by management of the Academy under the leadership of the Rector of the School, Commodore Duja Emmanuel Effedua, (rtd) has held  Blue Economy Week with the theme “The Blue Economy: Issues, challenges and opportunities for Nigeria”

In what the Rector described as a beautiful coincidence, the event coincided with the celebration of the Day of the Seafarer in Nigeria as the minister of marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola led heads of Maritime Agencies and stakeholders to celebrate and fete Seafarers in Nigeria.

Resource persons and participants at the program

The programme, according to the school’s Rector,  was to bring the cadets of the Academy, up to speed with the events and trends in the new dispensation.

He said that the event was a beautiful coincidence as the nation was celebrating the 2024 “Seafarers Day” He therefore dedicated the programme to Nigerian Seafarers, adding that the programme has helped to re-calibrate the minds of the cadets about what the Blue Economy is all about and inspire their confidence in the Maritime industry.

According the Rector “Nigeria is developing its blue economy and as cadets and seafarers, it holds the future for most of you. We have taken you through various levels of academic training but at the end of the day, whatever your specialization, you  will end up in the marine and blue economy, so it is important you have the necessary  and essential knowledge”.

Resource persons and participants at the program

“So far we have been able to take you through quality training using the most sophisticated seafaring training assets such simulators and other equipment; your future is already laid out for you, just acquaint yourselves with the basic concepts of the blue economy because that is where you will end up upon leaving here.

The making an intervention during the program

 “The blue economy encompasses everything; you are aware of the enormous opportunities that lies in navigation, onboard ships,  the fishing boats, tug boats and trawlers and all the connecting activities which are so vast; l am just giving you the synopsis. So we have brought experts here and will continue to do so, to tell you about the marine and blue economy and how to harness the vast potentials it holds. So pay attention, assimilate, explore opportunities,grasp and learn what our experts will take you through, we shall continue to do this exercise often because this is the industry you belong.”

The event featured many topical issues which were effectively handled by very competent resource persons including former Chief of Naval Staff,   Vice Admiral Dele Joseph Ezeoba (rtd),Rear Admiral A.O Oyagha (rtd) Dr, (Mrs) Felicia Chinwe Mogo and Rear Admiral F D Akpan.(rtd)

Other speakers include Mrs. Ezinne Chinwe Azunna, Dr Hope Afoke Orivri, Dr Eto Gabriel and Dr. Kelvin Okonna.

In all, the cadets were very grateful to the Rector for introducing them to the Marine and Blue Economy industry. They asked very insightful questions and got well articulated answers from the resources persons while the Rector served as moderator and chief coordinator during the sessions.

In his paper titled Maritime Challenges in the Gulf of Guinea, the former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral DJ Ezeoba was emphatic that no country can comprehensively handle maritime threats on its own, he said Global Maritime Partnerships, GMP, is the antidote to maritime insecurity.

According to him “The Navy, globally, has the same characteristics. The only difference is that we dominate different maritime spaces. As humans, we share different mentalities but the philosophy of maritime security is the same globally. What defines the difference is the philosophy of the individuals who try to propagate this philosophy which comes with peculiarities and complexities of the of the operating environment. The peculiarities and complexities of  of your operating environment determines the outcomes of your efforts”

Delivering his paper, Maritime Domain Awareness: A case Study of Nigeria’s Territorial Waters, Rear Admiral Austin Oyagha (Rtd) advocated greater synergy between the Nigerian Navy, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) by way of harmonizing the management and control of critical security infrastructure in order to achieve greater efficiency and focus; while describing the spread of Nigerian Navy Falcon Eye, NPA’s C31 NIMASA’s C4i as counterproductive.

Oyagha said the existence of ungoverned spaces is the lack of coordination, which he said is often driven by political considerations. Oyagha said MDA radars are expected to cover the entire space of the nation’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) without any blind spot but noted that it is yet to have such full range coverage of the backwaters.

Rear Admiral FD Akpan’s Paper, The Blue Economy: Imperatives for Nigeria, noted that for most people in Africa and in particular Nigeria, the ocean is an unfamiliar phenomenon.

“While many live very close to it, they never get to know it, never venture into it and its vastness is a source of admiration and myth to many. Lack of awareness and the potentials and resources available at sea often leads to government in some of the littoral states placing more emphasis on the development on materials/resources on land and becoming more land conscious in their approaches to policy generation and development drives. This tendency is referred to Sea Blindness or Sea Myopia”

“Sea Blindness can be defined as a general ignorance and failure to appreciate the importance of maritime domain by the general public, policy makers, governments and scholars. It is referred to as an inability to appreciate the importance of the seas and naval power, particularly with strategic security and economic prosperity”

“A littoral country with sea blindness is not aware that maritime supremacy is an important foreign policy tool. It is also the inability to quantify in concrete terms the actual potential of the maritime environment based on research and other empirical evidence” Rear Admiral FD Akpan (rtd) said,

Dr. Felicia Mogo stressed the need for Sustainable use of the oceans and seas to ensure the sustainability  of humanity on planet earth.

Dr. Hope Afoke Orivri and Mrs. Ezinne Chinwe Azuna spoke eloquently on the Dangers of Marine Plastic Pollution and The Art and Seascapes in Nigeria’s Blue Economy respectively.

The Blue Economy Week as put together by management of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria was described by participants as one the best sensitization and enlightenment programmes held in Nigeria’s maritime sector.

The organization and precision of daily events was master class as participants adjudged the event as worthy of emulation by other agencies.

Cdre Duja Emmanuel Effedua, (rtd) Rector, Maritime Academy of Nigeria, MAN.