Nigeria’s Blue Economy: A Panacea for Employment Generation, Trade and Development
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47941/ijecop.2606Keywords:
Blue Economy, Employment Generation, Trade, Development, Maritime TransportAbstract
Purpose: Nigeria is facing serious economic challenges that necessitate a shift towards diversification to achieve sustainable development. The recent change in government has brought new promises to combat corruption and uplift the common man, but economic diversification remains a pressing priority. The country over-reliance on oil, which dominates its economy, has made it vulnerable to global economic uncertainties and fluctuating oil prices. It’s imperative for the government to recognize that oil is not an endless source of revenue and diversification is essential to break free from the limitation of a mono—economy. Thus, the Blue Economy, is an innovative and dynamic approach that balances economic growth with environmental sustainability. It seeks to harness the potential of Nigeria’s vast coastline, marine resources, and inland water-ways to drive national development and identify opportunities for employment generation in coastal and marine -related industries.
Methodology: Based on the research objective the study employs the Dynamic Ordinary Least Square (DOLS) and the Johansen Cointegrating Regression (JCR) estimation methods to evaluate the sustainability of the employment generation by Nigerian’s blue economy, using annual time series data (secondary data) covering the period 1986-2022, to investigate the potential impact of blue economy and employment generation in Nigeria.
Findings: The blue economy offers significant opportunities for Nigeria to achieve sustainable development and economic growth by investing in the sustainable use of marine resources, Nigeria can diversify its economy, create jobs, and improve livelihoods.
Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Finally, policy should be formulated to make the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy should establish a comprehensive national policy on marine and blue economy, aligning with United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982 integrate provisions of the Sustainable Development Goals 14 and engage public private partnerships (PPP) to develop port and transport infrastructure to promote coastal recreation and tourism along the coast.
Downloads
References
Adelaja, O. A., & Adesina, O. A. (2018). The Blue Economy: A Panacea for Job Creation and Economic Development in Nigeria. International Journal of Management, Innovation & Entrepreneurial Research, 4(2), 1-8.
Adetona, T. (2020). The Nigerian maritime sector: actualizing the blue economy dream. American Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 5(1): 178-193.
Akbulaev N, & Bayramli G (2020) Maritime transport and economic growth: Interconnection and influence (an example of the countries in the Caspian Sea coast; Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Iran). Mar Policy 118:104005
Akinwumi, A. A. (2020). Blue Economy and Job Creation in Nigeria. Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 11(18), 1-10.
Crowther, D Seifi, S & Moyeen A (2018). The goals of sustainable development responsibility and governance. University of Derby, UK.
Danladi, I .B, kore, B. M., & Gul, M, (2017) Vulnerability of the Nigerian cost: An insight into the sea level rise owning to climate change and anthropogenic activities. Journal of African Earth Science 134, 493-503.
Attri, V. N. (2016). An emerging new development paradigm of the blue economy in IORA; A policy framework for the future. Chair Indian Ocean Studies, Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), University of Mauritius.
Egbedokun, A. O., & Ajayi, O. D. (2019). The Blue Economy as a Panacea for Nigeria's Economic Growth. Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 10(16), 1-8.
Ekemeabasi, E. (2020). Blue Economy: the new frontier for marine environmental protection and sustainable development. Journal of Economics and Sustainable Growth, 2(2): 1-2
Elisha, O. D. (2019). The Nigeria blue economy: Prospects for economic growth and challenges. International Journal of Scientific Research in Education, 12(5), 680-699.
Folami, Taoheed Olalekan. (2017). Towards an integrated ocean government regime and implementation of the sustainable development goal 14 in Nigeria. World Maritime University Dissertations. 592
Farouk, A. U., Jibril, R. S., Maigoshi, Z. S., Ahamad, T. H., & Bako, M. M. (2021). Broadening Nigeria’s Revenue Base: Exploring Blue Economy Activities. Applied Finance and Accounting, 7(2), 9–13.
Gani A (2017). The logistics performance effect in international trade. Asian J Ship Log 33(4):279–288.
Ibrahim, Hammed Damilare (2020) Harnessing the potentials of blue economy for sustainable development of Nigeria). Unpublished dissertation. World Maritime University Dissertations. 673.
Jouili TA, Allouche MA (2016) Impacts of seaport investment on economic growth. Promet Traffic Transp 28(4):365–370
Lloyd C, Onyeabor E, Nwafor N, Alozie OJ, Nwafor M, Mahakweabba U, Adibe E (2020) Maritime transportation and the Nigerian economy: matters arising. Commonwealth.
Ninawe, A S (2017) Blue Economy is the Economic Activities that directly or indirectly take Place in the Ocean and Seas, Use Outputs, Goods and Services into Ocean and Land Based Activities. Examines in Marine Biology & Oceanography. pp. 1-3.
Ogunleye, O. O., & Olugbenga, O. J. (2019). Blue Economy: A Panacea for Sustainable Development in Nigeria. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 7(9), 134-146.
Omotoso, K., & Ojekunle, O. (2019). The Blue Economy: A Catalyst for Job Creation and Sustainable Development in Nigeria. Journal of Economics and Development Studies, 7(4), 1-9.
Okolo-Obasi, E. N. (2018). Blue Economy: A Catalyst for Job Creation in Nigeria. Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 9(16), 1-8.
Oyediran, O. S., & Oyediran, I. A. (2019). Blue Economy and Sustainable Development in Nigeria: An Overview. Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 10(20), 1-7.
Onuoha, C. O. (2018). Blue Economy and Sustainable Development in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects. Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 9(21), 1-9.
Okemwa, E. M. (2019). Harnessing the potentials of the blue economy for Kenya’s sustainable development. [Master’s thesis, World Maritime University] World Maritime University Dissertations. 1145.
Okolie, P.I.P., Anidiobu, G.A. and Ugwuanyi, W.N. (2018). Entrepreneurship Financing and its Effect on Unemployment Rate in Nigeria: The MSMEs’ Perspective, 2001–2017. International Journal of Academic Research in Economics and Management Sciences, 7(3): 251-266.
Ogunjimi, J.A. (2021). The role of small and medium enterprises in tackling unemployment rate in Nigeria. Journal of Economics and Sustainable Growth, Vol 4 issue 1: 74-92
Polman Paul (2019). A business model for sustainable, world economic forum. Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 10(17), 58- 72.
Park, J.Y. (1992). Canonical Cointegrating Regressions. Econometrica, 60(1), 119-143.
Sakyi D, Immurana M (2021) Seaport efficiency and the trade balance in Africa. Maritime Transport.
Vázquez. R. M, García, J. M. &Valenciano, J. (2021). Challenges of the Blue Economy: Evidence and Research Trends. Research Square
Wackernagel, Math (2017). Making the sustainable development goals consistent with sustainability. Energy Research, Global Footprint
World Bank and United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (World Bank-UN). (2017). The Potential of the Blue Economy: Increasing Long-term Benefits of the Sustainable Use of Marine Resources for Small Island Developing States and Coastal Least Developed Countries. World Bank, Washington DC, USA.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr. Peter Enueshike, Dr. Dorathy Oluchukwu Anyanwu
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
