Special Report
NIGERIA’S MARINE ECONOMY CRISIS: CAN ₦10.5B SAVE A SECTOR THAT HANDLES 90% OF TRADE? 2
Minister Oyetola’s Budget Plea Exposes Decade of Systematic Neglect
A Waterways News Special Report
Abuja, February 11, 2026
THE INLAND WATERWAYS OPPORTUNITY: CHEAP, SAFE, IGNORED
Nigeria’s heavy reliance on road transport for over 80 percent of freight movement is both economically irrational and infrastructurally destructive. Water transport is globally recognized as significantly cheaper than road haulage, yet Nigeria’s inland waterways remain chronically underfunded, unsafe, and underutilized.
The minister’s appeal for increased waterways funding was framed around safety—curbing accidents and loss of lives. But the economic argument is equally compelling. Shifting even 20 percent of current road freight to waterways would:
- Reduce road deterioration, extending the lifespan of highway infrastructure
- Lower logistics costs for manufacturers and distributors
- Decrease carbon emissions from heavy truck traffic
- Ease urban congestion in cities along major freight corridors
- Create new economic activity around river ports and inland terminals
Yet year after year, waterways receive token allocations that barely cover operational costs, much less the investment needed to make them viable alternatives. The proposed 2026 budget continues this pattern of benign neglect.
THE FISH IMPORT TRAP: FOOD SECURITY MEETS FOREX DRAIN
Nigeria’s fish sector presents one of the clearest cases for urgent investment. Annual demand exceeds 3.6 million metric tonnes. Domestic production struggles to reach 1.4 million metric tonnes. The deficit—over 2.2 million metric tonnes—is met through imports valued at more than one billion dollars annually.
This is not a luxury import situation. Fish is one of the most affordable sources of animal protein for Nigerian households, particularly in coastal and riverine communities. Yet the country spends over $1 billion yearly to import what it could theoretically produce domestically.
The situation is made worse by post-harvest losses of up to 30 percent, which further reduce already inadequate supply. These losses stem from poor storage facilities, inadequate cold chain infrastructure, and inefficient processing methods—all problems that require capital investment to solve.
The minister assured the committee that the ministry is “working hard to increase local fish production and reduce importation.” But without substantial budgetary support, such assurances ring hollow. You cannot build cold storage facilities, establish fish processing plants, or develop aquaculture infrastructure without capital.
The math is brutal but simple: spending ₦10.5 billion domestically to build fish production capacity makes far more economic sense than spending $1 billion (roughly ₦1.5 trillion at current exchange rates) annually on imports. Yet the budget reflects no such strategic thinking.
WHAT THIS BUDGET CAN ACHIEVE: A REALISTIC ASSESSMENT
If the ₦10.5 billion is approved and—critically—actually released, what might the ministry accomplish?
Minimal operational continuity is the minister’s own assessment, and there is no reason to dispute it. The budget allows for:
- Basic administrative functions: Paying salaries, maintaining offices, conducting routine oversight
- Essential maintenance: Keeping existing infrastructure from complete collapse
- Selective interventions: Perhaps a handful of small-scale pilot projects in priority areas
- Crisis management: Responding to immediate problems as they arise
What the budget cannot achieve:
- Meaningful port modernization to reduce congestion and improve efficiency
- Waterways infrastructure development to shift freight from road to water
- Aquaculture expansion to meaningfully close the fish production gap
- Maritime safety upgrades beyond bare-minimum equipment replacement
- Regulatory capacity building to match international standards
- Blue economy initiatives to tap ocean resources sustainably
In essence, this is a budget for survival, not growth. It keeps the ministry alive but does not enable it to fulfill its mandate. For a sector handling 90 percent of international trade, this represents a catastrophic failure of prioritization.
CRITICAL OVERSIGHTS: WHAT THE BUDGET IGNORES
Several glaring omissions undermine the budget’s already limited potential:
1. No Strategy for Reversing Agency Revenue Deductions
The budget proposal identifies excessive deductions as a core problem but offers no mechanism or dedicated allocation to negotiate, compensate for, or legally challenge these deductions. The agencies will continue bleeding revenue.
2. Insufficient Allocations for Safety and Emergency Response
Given the minister’s emphasis on waterways safety and recurring accidents, the budget should have included dedicated safety infrastructure spending—life jackets, rescue boats, communication equipment, training programs. These appear absent or inadequately funded.
3. No Meaningful Aquaculture Investment
Closing a 2.2 million metric tonne fish deficit requires industrial-scale aquaculture development. This demands hatcheries, feed mills, extension services, and farmer financing programs. The capital allocation shows no evidence of such ambition.
4. Port Technology Deficits Unaddressed
Modern ports run on digital systems—automated cargo handling, electronic documentation, real-time tracking. Nigeria’s ports lag decades behind. The budget includes no visible allocation for technology upgrades that could radically improve efficiency.
5. Climate Adaptation Ignored
As a maritime and fisheries ministry, climate change should be central to planning. Rising sea levels, ocean warming, and weather pattern changes directly affect all subsectors. The budget reflects no climate adaptation or mitigation strategy.
6. Private Sector Partnership Mechanisms Absent
Given fiscal constraints, the ministry should be aggressively pursuing public-private partnerships for infrastructure development. The budget includes no dedicated allocation for PPP structuring, feasibility studies, or transaction advisory services.
7. Human Capital Development Overlooked
Maritime expertise—naval architects, marine engineers, aquaculture specialists, port managers—requires continuous training and development. There is no evidence of a robust capacity-building allocation.
THE BOTTOMLINE: A SECTOR TOO CRITICAL TO FAIL, TOO NEGLECTED TO SUCCEED
Minister Oyetola’s budget presentation was, in essence, a cry for help dressed in bureaucratic language. Behind the technocratic terminology and fiscal jargon lies a stark reality: Nigeria is systematically undermining one of its most strategically vital sectors.
The marine and blue economy is not a discretionary concern. It is the foundation upon which Nigeria’s trade, commerce, and food security rest. When 90 percent of international trade moves through your ports, maritime efficiency becomes synonymous with economic competitiveness. When over 40 million people depend on fishing for livelihood, aquaculture becomes a matter of social stability.
Yet the budget treats this sector as an afterthought—not because policymakers are ignorant of its importance, but because immediate fiscal pressures consistently override long-term strategic thinking. The federal government’s approach resembles a homeowner who, facing a cash crunch, stops paying for roof repairs while the ceiling leaks. The short-term savings are real; the long-term costs are catastrophic.
Three fundamental truths emerge from this budget crisis:
First, the current model of funding the maritime sector is economically irrational. Self-funding agencies that generate substantial revenue should not be bled dry through excessive deductions. They should be strengthened, allowed to retain more of their earnings, and encouraged to expand operations. The federal government’s current approach is like taxing a successful business into bankruptcy.
Second, the disconnect between budget approval and budget release has become a farce. When only 1.7 percent of capital allocations actually reach the implementing ministry, the budget process itself loses credibility. Either approve realistic budgets and release funds, or stop pretending the paper allocations mean anything.
Third, the ministry needs at minimum a ten-fold budget increase to begin addressing its mandate seriously. ₦100 billion annually would still be modest for a sector of this importance, but it would at least enable strategic interventions rather than mere survival.
Senator Wasiu Eshilokun’s assurance that the National Assembly will “carefully examine the proposals” is welcome, but examination alone will not solve the underlying structural problems. The Senate and House committees have an opportunity—perhaps an obligation—to fundamentally rethink how Nigeria funds its maritime sector.
This might mean:
- Legislation protecting self-funding agency revenues from excessive deductions
- Multi-year funding commitments for major infrastructure projects
- Automatic budget release mechanisms tied to fiscal performance indicators
- Establishment of a dedicated blue economy development fund with guaranteed annual allocations
- Congressional oversight of the Accountant-General’s deduction policies
Without such structural reforms, the ₦10.5 billion budget—whether approved or not, whether released or not—will remain what Minister Oyetola himself acknowledged: enough to survive, insufficient to succeed.
Nigeria’s maritime sector deserves better. More importantly, Nigeria’s economy requires better. The question is whether those holding the purse strings will recognize this reality before the cost of neglect becomes insurmountable.
The minister has done his job. He has sounded the alarm, presented the evidence, and made the case. Now the responsibility shifts to the National Assembly and, ultimately, to the presidency.
Will they respond with the urgency this crisis demands, or will they approve another aspirational budget that remains largely unimplemented, consigning the marine and blue economy to another year of “minimal operational continuity”?
The answer to that question will reverberate far beyond the ministry’s offices. It will be felt in every port, on every waterway, in every fishing community, and ultimately, in the price Nigerians pay for goods and food.
The time for carefully examining proposals has long passed. The time for decisive action is now.
A Waterways News Special Report
Abuja, February 11, 2026
Lagos Rides the Wave of Nigeria’s Blue Economy Boom
How Lagos Is Riding the Wave of Water Transportation, Electric Racing, and Africa’s $400 Billion Blue Economy
Special Report by: Okeoghene Onoriobe | Marine and Blue Economy Correspondent | Lagos-Nigeria
Lagos — Africa’s largest megacity — sits on a paradox. Despite having one of the most expansive waterway networks on the continent, less than 1% of its daily transportation uses water. But a major shift is underway. From passenger ferries multiplying five-fold at Ikorodu terminal, to Lagos hosting E1’s first-ever electric boat race in Africa, Nigeria is finally tapping into a resource that could help solve one of its most chronic urban problems: gridlock. And with the UNDP projecting Africa’s blue economy to hit $400 billion by 2030, the stakes — and the opportunities — have never been bigger.
1. The Problem: A City Drowning in Traffic — But Ignoring Its Waterways
Lagos is home to over 20 million people. On any given weekday, its road network — groaning under the weight of overcrowded buses, danfo minivans, and an ever-growing fleet of private cars — grinds to a near standstill. Commuters routinely spend four to six hours in traffic for journeys that should take under an hour. Yet few look out of their car window and consider the broader solution that flows quietly alongside them: the Lagos Lagoon and its vast network of creeks, rivers, and coastal waterways.
According to Professor Charles Asenime, an expert in Transport and Mobility at Lagos State University, this underutilisation is both staggering and entirely reversible:
“If you look at the structure of Lagos State, about 16% of the land mass is made up of water. And then we have the water network that is capable of taking you almost anywhere in Lagos. Despite this, the usage was very, very low — less than 1%.” — Prof. Charles Asenime, Lagos State University
Think about what that means: 16% of Lagos is water — a network of natural highways that could carry tens of thousands of commuters daily. For decades, this resource sat largely idle, not because it lacked potential, but because it lacked investment, political will, and public awareness.
Figure 1 — Lagos State Land vs Water Composition. Source: Lagos State University Research
2. The Turning Tide: Government Steps In
The shift began when the Lagos State Government formally committed to developing its waterways as a strategic transport corridor. The Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) was tasked with creating an enabling environment — improving terminal infrastructure, licensing operators, and setting safety standards. The effects have been tangible and swift.
At the Ikorodu terminal, one of the busiest hubs in the state, the transformation is most visible. Private operators like GT Waterline Ferry Services have dramatically scaled their operations, attributing much of their growth directly to increased government engagement.
“In 2018, when this particular terminal where we are was still under construction, we were moving about 10, 15 boats per day. Now as of today we move nothing less than 50 boats in a day. On an average of 1,000 passengers daily, around about 7 destinations from our major hub.” — Atinuke Oyenuga, CEO — GT Waterline Ferry Services
The numbers tell a compelling story of growth — a 4x increase in vessel movements and a burgeoning daily ridership that rivals many land-based transit systems in the country.
Figure 2 — Ikorodu Terminal: Boats per Day (2018 vs. Today). Source: GT Waterline Ferry Services
Figure 3 — GT Waterline Ferry Services: Key Performance Metrics Today
- Enter E1: When Electric Racing Meets Blue Economy Ambition
Water transportation in Lagos got a glamorous — and globally connected — boost when the E1 electric boat racing series chose Lagos as the site of its first-ever African race. E1, which describes itself as the “Formula E of the seas,” features sleek, fully electric race boats called RaceBirds that foil above the water at speeds of up to 50 knots. The spectacle of these futuristic vessels skimming across Lagos Harbour sent a powerful message: the waterways of Lagos are not just functional — they are world-class.
For Rodi Basso, CEO and co-founder of E1, the choice of Lagos was deliberate and deeply symbolic:
“E1 goes beyond the sport. The sport needs to play this kind of role which is inspirational. This comes with thought leadership, some concrete action on the coastal area.” — Rodi Basso, CEO & Co-Founder — E1 Racing
Basso envisions a legacy that goes well beyond the race itself — one where Lagos becomes a global reference point for sustainable water mobility, attracting investment, innovation, and talent to the city’s waterfront.
“We want to show that a different water mobility is possible for the future. This will bring developments, this will bring jobs, innovation, and will put Lagos potentially on the map as the place to go if you want to learn about the water mobility of the future.” — Rodi Basso, CEO & Co-Founder — E1 Racing
For local operators and regulators, the E1 race was more than a spectacle — it was a masterclass in possibility. Damilola Emmanuel, General Manager of LASWA, described the impact:
“It was where sustainability met innovation because what we saw happening with that boat race was a dynamic way of looking at water transport. A lot of the local operators could see the future — saying this is where we want to eventually be.” — Damilola Emmanuel, General Manager — LASWA
4. The $400 Billion Prize: Africa’s Blue Economy Opportunity
The excitement in Lagos is not occurring in isolation. Across Africa, governments, investors, and international bodies are waking up to the enormous untapped potential of the continent’s oceans, rivers, and lakes — what economists collectively call the “Blue Economy.” The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has estimated that Africa’s blue economy could generate over $400 billion annually by 2030, through sectors including fisheries, aquaculture, maritime trade, coastal tourism, offshore energy, and water transport.
Nigeria, with its extensive coastline along the Gulf of Guinea, the Niger Delta’s labyrinthine waterways, and the vast lagoon system of Lagos, is uniquely positioned to claim a significant share of this wealth. But experts are quick to note that seizing this opportunity requires more than infrastructure investment — it demands a commitment to sustainability.
Figure 4 — Africa’s Blue Economy: Projected Revenue Growth to $400 Billion by 2030. Source: UNDP
- Sustainability: The Non-Negotiable Condition
Perhaps the most important voice in this story belongs not to a boat operator or a racing executive, but to an academic who has spent years studying how cities interact with water. Professor Asenime’s call for sustainability is both a warning and a roadmap:
“We must have waterways that are clean and clear. Then it will help the economy to come up. The bottom line is that it must be sustainable — so we don’t want to use it now and cause problems in the future. We want it to grow to the extent that those in the future will partake, they will benefit from what we are doing now.” — Prof. Charles Asenime, Lagos State University
This is a crucial insight. Lagos’s waterways currently face significant environmental pressures — plastic waste, oil spills, industrial runoff, and informal settlement encroachment. Without aggressive clean-up and protection measures, the same waterways being celebrated today could become degraded to the point of unusability within a generation.
The integration of electric vessels — as demonstrated by E1 — offers a glimpse of what zero-emission water transport can look like. If Lagos and Nigeria can align their blue economy ambitions with strong environmental governance, the model they build could become a template for cities across the Global South.
Key Takeaways at a Glance
|
Metric / Insight |
Data / Finding |
| Lagos water as % of total land mass | 16% |
| Water transport share of Lagos commuters | Less than 1% (pre-initiative) |
| Ikorodu ferry boats per day (2018) | ~10–15 |
| Ikorodu ferry boats per day (today) | 50+ |
| Daily passengers at Ikorodu hub | ~1,000 |
| Destinations served from Ikorodu | 7 |
| E1 Africa — first race location | Lagos, Nigeria |
| Africa Blue Economy (UNDP 2030 projection) | $400 Billion+ |
Additional reports by: Emetena Ikuku, Waterways News Reporter Researcher; Warri
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Blue Economy
PARTNERS ON THE WATER: Maritime Workers’ Unions and the Battle to Develop Nigeria’s Inland Waterways Sector
PARTNERS ON THE WATER:Maritime Workers’ Unions and the Battle to Develop Nigeria’s Inland Waterways Sector
By the Nigerian Waterways News Special Investigations Desk, Lagos | February 20, 2026
Nigeria’s inland waterways span more than 10,000 kilometers of rivers, creeks, and channels, connecting 28 of the country’s 36 states. They represent one of the most underutilized transport assets on the African continent. And as the Federal Government, through its newly established Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, pushes to unlock that potential, the Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN) — the country’s principal labour organization in the sector — has been working from multiple angles to shape, support, and at times challenge that effort.
This is a report about what that engagement looks like in practice: from wage negotiations and safety advocacy to partnerships with regulators and the challenge of absorbing a workforce that, for the most part, has never held a formal contract.
The Union and Its Sector
The Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria was formed in 1996, when the Federal Government merged four separate maritime labour organizations into a single industrial union.
Affiliated to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), MWUN represents sailors, dockworkers, ferry operators, and port support staff across the country’s seaports and inland waterway terminals.
In March 2025, the union held its 6th Quadrennial National Delegates Conference at Festac Town, Lagos, at which Comrade Francis Abi Bunu was elected President-General, unopposed. Bunu succeeded Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, who had led the union for eight years. The election was notably the first time in MWUN’s 29-year history that a president-general had come from the Seafarers Branch of the union.
Bunu’s background is directly relevant to the inland waterways discussion. Before his election, he served as President of the Seamen/NIWA and Water Transportation Branch of MWUN — the branch that deals specifically with river and inland waterway workers. His ascent to the presidency was welcomed by the Barge Operators Association of Nigeria (BOAN), which had recently initiated a formal collaboration with MWUN to improve operations and strengthen engagement with government regulators, including NIWA and NIMASA.
The Scale of the Safety Crisis
Any honest discussion of MWUN’s role in developing Nigeria’s waterways must begin with the body count. Boat accidents on Nigeria’s inland waterways kill hundreds of people every year, and the data — such as it is — tells a grim story.According to the Marine Crafts Builders Association of Nigeria (MCBAN), the average annual death toll from boat accidents in 2021 and 2022 was approximately 330. In 2023, over 300 lives were lost, with Kwara and Anambra states recording the highest casualties, according to a report by The Cable.
The 2024 figures were no better: at least 326 confirmed deaths, an increase of 8.67 percent over 2023, according to The Cable’s count, with Niger and Kwara states leading casualties. Some accounts put the 2024 toll as high as 452, reflecting the difficulty of consistent data collection across remote riverine communities.
Among the most devastating single incidents in recent memory was the October 3, 2024, capsizing of a wooden dugout canoe on the River Niger — carrying an estimated 300 passengers — which resulted in nearly 200 deaths. A second major incident followed on November 29, 2024, on the Dambo-Ebuchi waterways in Kogi State, where a vessel with over 160 passengers capsized, killing approximately 54 and leaving an unknown number unaccounted for.
The root causes have been extensively documented: overloaded and poorly maintained wooden vessels, absent life jackets, unlicensed operators, no mandatory passenger manifests, night sailing on unmarked waterways, and chronic under-enforcement by regulatory agencies.
As the Independent Newspaper reported in October 2025, experts in the sector have consistently noted that NIWA, Marine Police, and State Waterways Authorities often operate in silos, with enforcement that is reactive rather than preventive.
MWUN’s Advocacy on Vessel Safety
MWUN has been publicly vocal on the need to modernise Nigeria’s waterway fleet. When Minister of Marine and Blue Economy Adegboyega Oyetola intensified his campaign in 2025 for state governments to phase out wooden commercial boats in favour of safer fibre-reinforced plastic and aluminium vessels, MWUN President-General Francis Bunu publicly endorsed the position. According to a press release published on the union’s official website, Bunu specifically lauded Oyetola’s stance on phasing out wooden boats as a necessary step toward curbing incessant waterways accidents.
“The safety of our citizens on water is not just a policy responsibility, it is a moral duty.” — Minister Adegboyega Oyetola, presenting the report of the Special Committee on the Prevention of Boat Mishaps, 2025
The Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy established a 16-member Special Committee on the Prevention of Boat Mishaps in February 2025, chaired by NIWA Managing Director Bola Oyebamiji. The committee’s recommendations fed into ongoing efforts to enforce the Inland Waterways Transportation Regulations 2023 — the Water Transportation Code — which was launched in April 2024 by Minister Oyetola at the NIWA headquarters in Lokoja.
NIWA’s enforcement response since 2023 has included increasing its water marshal deployment from 80 officers to 350; introducing mandatory passenger manifests at registered jetties; installing marine navigational buoys; and enforcing a “No Life Jacket, No Boarding” policy.
The Ministry distributed 42,000 life jackets across 12 riverine states in 2025, with each state receiving 3,500 in the first phase. The distribution began in Minna, Niger State. The results, while contested in their precise magnitude, show a measurable downward trend. Industry data shows fatalities dropped from the 2021–2022 average of 330 to 231 in 2024, and further to 92 in the first eight months of 2025 — a period during which NIWA claimed a reduction of up to 72 percent compared to the 2021–2022 baseline. Independent analysts have urged caution about the 72 percent figure, noting it compares eight months of 2025 data against a full-year baseline, and that late-year incidents typically account for a significant share of annual fatalities. A comparison between 2022 and 2024 yields a more defensible figure of approximately 30 percent reduction.
The 2025 Safety Sensitisation Campaign
Beyond endorsing government policy, MWUN has taken its own operational role in safety. In 2025, NIWA ran a waterways sensitization campaign under the theme “Safety and Safety Trip: Zero Tolerance to Boat Mishap, No Life Jacket, No Boarding.” A key highlight of the campaign was the inauguration of waterways marshals at the Zumba waterfront to enforce water transport regulations. MWUN’s network of members and branch structures in riverine communities has been identified as a channel through which safety messaging and compliance campaigns are amplified at the local level.
MWUN has also moved on its own account to bring previously non-unionised seafarers into the formal sector fold. Bunu led the union on a tour of Melsmore Marine Nigeria Limited at Ibeju Lekki in 2025 to sensitize workers there about unionization, flagging that many seafarers were working under hazardous conditions with inadequate health and safety provision. He noted that poor conditions on vessels had claimed the lives of crew members through communicable diseases contracted while at sea.
The Landmark Wage Agreement
On the labour relations front, MWUN achieved one of its most significant breakthroughs in recent years in 2024: the conclusion of a 20-year-old wage dispute in the maritime sector. The Shipping Agencies, Clearing and Forwarding Employers Association (SACFEA) and MWUN signed an agreement establishing a minimum wage of ₦200,000 for shipping industry workers employed by SACFEA members. The deal was brokered by Minister Oyetola and facilitated by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council.
Then-President-General Adewale Adeyanju, who was concluding his tenure as the deal was finalised, noted in his farewell briefing with journalists that Hull-Blyth Nigeria Limited initially declined to join the agreement, but subsequently agreed to pay the ₦200,000 minimum wage. The agreement is to be reviewed every two years.
“MWUN will always be open to any collaboration that will positively impact the industry.” — Comrade Francis Bunu, MWUN President-General, on the BOAN-MWUN partnership (Radarr Africa, May 2025)
MWUN and the Broader Development Agenda
MWUN has consistently framed waterways development as a national emergency, not merely an industry issue. During a National Executive Council meeting at Golden Tulip Hotel, Festac, Lagos, former President-General Adeyanju drew attention to the severe job losses from the 2006 port concession exercise — which he said reduced the NPA workforce from approximately 13,000 workers to just 4,000 — while calling on NIWA and NPA to urgently recruit more junior staff to man jetties and port terminals. NIWA’s then-Managing Director, Dr George Moghalu, confirmed at the same meeting that the authority was making preparations to expand its junior workforce.
The union has also called directly on the Federal Government to develop and fortify waterways as a means of effective transportation and employment generation, and to empower relevant agencies to regulate private boat operators and align their operations with economic development objectives.
MWUN’s position is that safety and development are inseparable: an unsafe waterways sector will never attract the investment or public confidence needed to grow.
On maritime security, Bunu has praised NIMASA’s achievements in combating piracy in the Gulf of Guinea — noting the improvement in safety and stability on Nigerian waters — and pledged that MWUN would mobilise its international affiliates to support Nigeria’s bid for a seat on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Council. The union views Nigeria’s prominence in global maritime governance as directly linked to the credibility and development of its domestic waterways sector.
The BOAN-MWUN Partnership: A Model for Collaboration
One of the most concrete recent examples of union-industry collaboration is the partnership between MWUN and the Barge Operators Association of Nigeria. BOAN executives visited the newly elected President-General Bunu at MWUN’s offices in Apapa, Lagos, to formalise discussions on joint working, explicitly noting that MWUN’s scale and reach across the country’s maritime industry made it the natural partner for improving barge operations.
BOAN has been working in parallel with NIWA, NIMASA, the Nigerian Navy, the Nigeria Police, and the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) to improve coordination of waterway traffic. The partnership with MWUN adds a workforce dimension to that multi-agency framework. Observers have noted that if the BOAN-MWUN collaboration produces joint training programmes, improved communication between operators and workers, and better compliance with safety standards, it could serve as a replicable model for other segments of Nigeria’s inland waterways sector.
The Challenges That Remain
For all the genuine activity, the picture is far from resolved. Enforcement on Nigeria’s waterways remains chronically weak, even by the admission of regulatory officials. The National Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has noted that more than two-thirds of all boat fatalities are drowning incidents, and that 90 percent of victims were not wearing life jackets at the time of their deaths — despite the existence of regulations mandating their use.
Nigeria recorded more than 3,130 incidents of boat mishaps in the ten years leading to 2024, according to data from the Marine Crafts Builders Association of Nigeria. The frequency of those incidents — on waterways that connect millions of Nigerians in communities where boats are the only viable means of transport — makes the pace of reform feel inadequate to many who live and work on those routes.The institutional fragmentation is also real. NIWA, state waterways authorities such as LASWA and RIWAMA, Marine Police, NEMA, and local government landing committees each have overlapping mandates and limited coordination. The union operates within that complexity, and its influence — though growing — cannot substitute for the institutional reform and sustained funding that the sector ultimately requires.
MWUN itself faces internal development challenges. The union’s new leadership under Bunu has inherited an organisation whose capacity to reach informal sector workers — the majority of those who operate on Nigeria’s inland waterways — remains limited. Formalisation of the workforce is a long-term project, and the economic precariousness of most informal boat operators makes the transition to structured employment genuinely difficult.
Conclusion: A Union at the Centre of a Necessary Conversation
Nigeria’s inland waterways development is not a single project — it is a decades-long national challenge involving infrastructure, regulation, workforce development, safety, and the economic inclusion of millions of riverine Nigerians.
The Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria is not the solution to that challenge. But the evidence of its activity — from the SACFEA minimum wage breakthrough, to Bunu’s public endorsement of the wooden boat phase-out, to MWUN’s partnership with BOAN, to its longstanding demands for NIWA and NPA recruitment — shows that the union is actively engaged with that challenge across multiple fronts.What the sector needs now, and what MWUN has begun to articulate with increasing clarity under its new leadership, is a framework in which the union’s knowledge of the workforce and the waterways is formally integrated into planning and development processes — not just consulted after decisions have been made, but engaged as a co-designer of the sector’s future. Nigeria’s rivers have been waiting long enough.
PART TWO: What the Courts Have Done — and What the Government Must Do Next
WATERWAYSNEWS.NG | Ports & Security | Investigative Report Lagos/Abuja — February 2026
In Part One of this investigation, we traced how thousands of illegal weapons enter Nigeria through its seaports — hidden in cement bags, misdeclared on shipping manifests, and shepherded through port terminals by corrupt clearing agents and complicit officials. In this concluding part, we examine whether justice has been served in the cases brought before Nigerian courts, why impunity remains the norm rather than the exception, and — most critically — what concrete steps Nigeria must take to shut down the supply chain feeding its cycle of armed violence.
The Courtroom: Progress, But Not Enough
The most significant judicial outcome in Nigeria’s recent history of arms trafficking prosecutions is the conviction arising from the 2017 Tincan Island seizure. After years of proceedings at the Federal High Court in Lagos, Great James Oil and Gas Limited, Ifeuwa Moses Christ, and Emeka Umeh Festus — also known as Amankwa — were found guilty on all eight counts against them under Suit No. FHC/L/339C/2018.
It was a watershed moment. For the first time, a corporate entity, its principal, and a clearing agent were simultaneously convicted for orchestrating a major arms importation operation. Customs Comptroller-General Adeniyi declared it proof of the service’s “zero-tolerance stance against arms trafficking.” Legal observers welcomed the outcome as a signal that Nigeria’s courts could process these complex, multi-defendant cases to a conclusion.
The 2024 Onne Port case — involving 844 rifles and 112,500 rounds of ammunition intercepted from a Turkey-origin container — is now before the courts. The principal suspect, Ali Samson Ofoma, and nine accomplices are facing charges under the Miscellaneous Offences Act. Their prosecution will be watched closely as a test of whether the system can deliver consistent results.
Why Convictions Remain Dangerously Rare
For all its symbolic weight, the Great James conviction stands out precisely because it is an exception. Security analysts and legal practitioners who track arms trafficking cases in Nigeria speak candidly about the barriers that obstruct accountability.
Nigeria’s courts are chronically overburdened. Complex multi-defendant cases involving smuggling rings can take five to ten years from charge to verdict, as the Tincan Island case itself demonstrated. In that time, evidence degrades, witnesses become unavailable, memories fade, and the commercial incentives driving the illegal trade do not pause.
Witnesses and informants face real danger. Those who report suspicious cargo or testify against trafficking networks operate without meaningful protection frameworks, and the networks they expose often have the resources and connections to reach them. Several cases have collapsed or stalled after witnesses withdrew cooperation.
The financing behind major arms shipments frequently connects to interests with political or business influence. Legal teams mounted on behalf of trafficking syndicates are often better resourced than the prosecuting authorities. Bail applications succeed, adjournments multiply, and the momentum of prosecution slows.
At the port level, the culture of impunity is sustained by low detection risk, high financial reward, and inadequate sanctions. A clearing agent who is caught loses a licence. One who is not caught earns commissions on multi-million-dollar transactions. The calculus, for too many, favours the risk.
The Legislative Foundation: A Necessary but Incomplete Step
The signing of the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons Act 2024 by President Tinubu on June 4, 2024 was an important and overdue development. The law provides a far more comprehensive framework than the ageing Firearms Act of 1959, covering interdiction, tracing, stockpile management, and international cooperation mechanisms.
But legislation is only as effective as its implementation. Nigeria has a long record of passing strong laws and implementing them weakly. The SALW Act 2024 will only change outcomes if it is matched by prosecutorial capacity, judicial prioritisation, inter-agency coordination, and — critically — the political will to pursue powerful actors, not just low-level couriers and clearing agents.
The question is not whether Nigeria now has the right law on paper. The question is whether it has the institutional commitment to enforce it.
Recommendations: What Nigeria Must Do Now
The evidence gathered in this investigation points to a set of concrete, actionable reforms across five areas. None of them are beyond Nigeria’s capacity. All of them are urgent.
1. Establish a Dedicated Arms Trafficking Court
The most immediate bottleneck in the justice chain is case processing speed. Nigeria should establish a specialised Federal High Court division — or designate specific judges — to handle arms trafficking cases exclusively. Fast-tracking these prosecutions would reduce the window during which witnesses can be intimidated, evidence can be tampered with, and syndicates can regroup. Ghana and South Africa have used specialised courts for organised crime and financial crime with measurable results. Nigeria should learn from those models.
2. Mandate 100% Container Scanning at All Major Ports
Currently, not all containers entering Nigerian seaports pass through X-ray or non-intrusive inspection (NII) scanners. The gaps in scanning coverage are precisely the gaps that traffickers exploit. The federal government should set a binding compliance target — 100 percent scanning for all containers at Apapa, Tincan Island, Onne, and Calabar within a defined timeline — and fund the procurement and maintenance of the equipment required to achieve it. Automated alerts for manifest anomalies, weight discrepancies, and containers from high-risk corridors should be built into the scanning workflow.
3. Create a Protected Whistleblower and Witness Scheme for Port Informants
Dismantling smuggling networks depends on inside information. Port workers, shipping line employees, terminal operators, and even mid-level clearing agents will often know when something irregular is being planned. Without credible protections — identity shielding, relocation support, financial incentives, and legal immunity for informants acting in good faith — that information will remain unshared. Nigeria’s Witness Protection Act exists but is poorly resourced and inconsistently applied. A specific, funded mechanism for port and maritime whistleblowers should be created under the NCCSALW or the Office of the NSA.
4. Prosecute and Publicly Sanction Complicit Officials — At Every Level
The deterrent effect of prosecutions depends entirely on who gets prosecuted. If only couriers and low-level clearing agents face charges while the port officials, warehouse operators, and senior figures who enabled them walk free, the message to the system is that the risk sits at the bottom of the chain. Nigeria must demonstrate — through high-profile, publicly reported prosecutions — that seniority is no protection. The suspension of licences following the Onne seizure was a start. Criminal charges, asset forfeiture, and prison terms for officials found complicit must follow, and must be publicised.
5. Activate Regional and International Intelligence Sharing
The weapons entering Nigeria are manufactured abroad — primarily in Turkey, Eastern Europe, and parts of Asia — shipped through international freight networks, and financed by transnational criminal syndicates. Nigeria cannot disrupt this supply chain by acting alone. It must fully engage ECOWAS mechanisms on small arms control, activate bilateral intelligence-sharing agreements with source countries including Turkey, and work with INTERPOL’s Firearms Programme and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to map trafficking networks at their origin. The fact that multiple recent seizures trace back to Turkey as a point of origin should already have triggered formal diplomatic and law enforcement exchanges.
6. Conduct a National Audit of Port Personnel Vetting Practices
How are Customs officers, terminal staff, and clearing agents vetted before being granted access to sensitive cargo inspection roles? What are the financial disclosure requirements for port officials? Are there lifestyle auditing mechanisms that flag sudden unexplained wealth? In most Nigerian port agencies, the honest answer is that these systems are inadequate or non-existent. A national audit of vetting and integrity management practices — commissioned by the Office of the NSA and the Ministry of Finance, which oversees Customs — should be completed within 12 months, with mandatory reforms to follow.
The Guns Will Keep Coming Until the System Makes Them Stop
The handover of 1,599 firearms to NCCSALW at Ikeja is, in the most immediate sense, a success. The weapons were found. Cases were prosecuted. The guns are now locked away. But measured against the 350 million illegal weapons estimated to be circulating in the country, it is a drop in an ocean of violence.
The supply chain sustaining illegal weapons imports into Nigeria is not a mystery. It runs through underfunded border agencies, through falsified shipping documents, through corrupt clearing agents and complicit officials, through underpowered courts, and through an enforcement culture in which the risk of doing wrong remains, for too many people, acceptably low.
Every component of that chain is fixable. Nigeria has the legal architecture — newly strengthened by the SALW Act 2024 — and the institutional capacity to make ports genuinely hostile territory for arms traffickers. What has been missing, historically, is the sustained political will to deploy that capacity against powerful networks with powerful friends.
President Tinubu’s government has taken meaningful steps. The Onne seizure, the Ikeja handover, the ongoing prosecutions — these are not nothing. But the families in Zamfara, in Anambra, in Plateau State, in the Niger Delta who live under the shadow of weapons that should never have entered this country deserve more than incremental progress.
They deserve a system in which the next container full of rifles never makes it past the scanner — and the person who tried to wave it through faces the full weight of the law.
That is the standard. Nigeria’s ports, and its government, must now be held to it.
This concludes Waterwaysnews.ng’s two-part investigative series on illegal arms smuggling through Nigerian ports.
Read Part One: “Blood Cargo: How Thousands of Illegal Weapons Flow Through Nigeria’s Ports — And the Men Who Let Them In”
— Waterwaysnews.ng | Ports & Security Investigative Desk
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