Blue Economy
The Presence of Foreign Crew Aboard Our Coastal Vessels: What Must be Done to Enforce the Nigeria Cabotage Law – Part Two
The Presence of Foreign Crew Aboard Our Coastal Vessels: What Must be Done to Enforce the Nigeria Cabotage Law
A Comprehensive Special Report on Legislative Intent, Systemic Failures, Human Costs, and the Reform Agenda Nigeria Cannot Afford to Delay
By Waterwaysnews.ng | Maritime Desk | Thursday, March 19, 2026
Our four-parts report started yesterday with the release of part one: The vision – What the Cabotage Law was designed to achieve. Here is part two of the report
PART TWO: THE REALITY — WHY THE OBJECTIVES REMAIN LARGELY UNDERACHIEVED
Twenty-three years after its enactment, the verdict of industry observers, academic researchers, and regulatory insiders is consistent and troubling. Over twenty years since the enactment of the Nigerian Cabotage Act, the cabotage trade is still dominated by foreigners, raising questions about the reasons for the policy’s failure to deliver its intended objectives.
Despite the Cabotage Act, less than 20% of maritime trade is under indigenous control, indicating a failure to increase local participation since its enforcement. Foreign ownership of vessels still dominates the sector, undermining local shipping growth.
The causes of this failure are multiple, interconnected, and deeply rooted. Waterwaysnews.ng examines them in detail below.
2.1 INSTITUTIONAL WEAKNESS AND NIMASA’S ENFORCEMENT DEFICIT
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) was designated as the principal implementation and enforcement agency under the Act. The scale of its institutional challenge has been consistently documented. NIMASA’s institutional incapacity to monitor compliance affects adversely the enforcement of the Cabotage Act 2003 in Nigerian coastal and inland shipping. The inability of NIMASA to bridge the capacity gap results in poor compliance with the Cabotage Act.
The institutions are weak and ineffective; the laws are not up to date to fill lacunae existing while implementing the policy. Defects thrown up by the agencies of government given the responsibility of regulating and promoting maritime cabotage have become evident.
The history of NIMASA’s leadership instability has compounded its institutional weakness. On July 8, 2009, the then Director-General of NIMASA was dismissed by the Nigerian Government, with his removal attributed to the fact that under his administration NIMASA lacked the requisite managerial capacity to implement and enforce the Cabotage Act and also failed in translating the intent of the Act to the benefit of potential Nigerian investors who have interest in the shipping sector.
2.2 THE WAIVER PROBLEM: A DOOR LEFT WIDE OPEN
Perhaps the single most damaging structural flaw in the legal framework is the waiver system established under Sections 9 to 11 of the Cabotage Act. While waivers serve a legitimate function in principle — allowing foreign vessels to operate temporarily where no Nigerian alternative exists — their administration has created a massive loophole that has effectively undermined the entire cabotage regime.
Section 9 of the Cabotage Act 2003 gives the Minister sole discretion to grant waivers upon an application by a foreign vessel that can prove there is unavailability of a wholly owned Nigerian vessel to perform the cabotage services required. This application must be scrutinised by NIMASA; however, NIMASA, which is the implementation agency, lacks the capacity and machinery to verify the claims made in these applications. This has resulted in the issuance of arbitrary exemptions without proper verification.
SEREC attributed the persistent failure of the Cabotage regime to institutional weaknesses, policy inconsistencies, discontinuity between successive administrations, as well as political interference and patronage networks influencing waiver issuance and contract allocation. The group further identified subtle pressures from dominant external operators, who benefit from Nigeria’s dependency on foreign tonnage, overly flexible waiver clauses (Sections 9–11), and the granting of excessive discretion to public officials.
Since the enactment of the Nigerian Cabotage Act, there has been a persistent dependence on cabotage waivers which exempt non-compliant vessels from adhering to the cabotage requirements in Nigeria. Countries like Nigeria and South Africa have encountered challenges in leveraging cabotage restrictions in order to build their supply-side capacity.
2.3 LACK OF INDIGENOUS TONNAGE AND THE VESSEL SHORTAGE CRISIS
The cabotage law can only be enforced if Nigerian-owned vessels are available to replace foreign ones. The fundamental reality is that they are not available in sufficient numbers. Another obstacle to the effectiveness of the Cabotage Act is the scarcity of cabotage vessels compared to the available tonnage. Insufficient funds for acquiring new ships and marine equipment have been identified as reasons for this shortage.
Despite the legal preference for Nigerian-owned vessels, a structural shortfall in Nigerian-owned tonnage has persisted for many years. Foreign vessels and foreign-crewed ships continue to participate in domestic coastal logistics through various exemptions, loopholes, or weak enforcement, particularly in the oil and gas sector, where chartering conditions and urgency often trump local-only rules.
The shortage of vessels has a devastating ripple effect on seafarer training. The training of Nigerian crew as mandated by the Act to man Nigerian vessels engaged in coastal trade is highly dependent on vessel availability, as trainees cannot be certified until they have completed their sea time training onboard vessels. In other words, a vessel shortage has a ripple effect on the training of Nigerian crew. The primary challenge in seafarer training in Nigeria stems from the discontinuation of the Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL), which had a fleet of more than 40 ships that provided training opportunities for Nigerian cadets during its operation.
This creates a vicious cycle: few Nigerian ships means few sea-time training opportunities for cadets; fewer certified Nigerian seafarers means fewer qualified people to man Nigerian-flagged vessels; fewer qualified seafarers provides justification for more waivers for foreign crew. The cycle repeats.
2.4 THE LONG DORMANCY OF THE CABOTAGE VESSEL FINANCING FUND (CVFF)
The Cabotage Act established the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) precisely to break the vessel shortage cycle — a dedicated credit facility to help Nigerian operators acquire and maintain tonnage. Its failure to operate effectively for most of its existence represents one of the Act’s most critical failures. The CVFF, designed to financially empower Nigerian shipping companies, reportedly trapped over N40 billion in local banks since its establishment, with no significant disbursements occurring as of 2016.
SEREC faulted the poor management and delayed disbursement of the CVFF, describing it as a major setback to indigenous ship ownership.
The provision of funds remains a major challenge for the successful implementation of the Cabotage Act, despite the availability of the CVFF. Shipping requires significant capital investments that indigenous shippers may struggle to afford, preventing their access to funds for vessel acquisition and perpetuating foreign dominance.
It is only in the last two years that meaningful movement has been recorded. NIMASA, via its marine notice releases in November 2024, invited duly licensed deposit money banks and local and foreign development financial institutions to apply for accreditation as Primary Lending Institutions under the CVFF for the inaugural round of disbursements slated to take place before the last quarter of 2025. In January 2026, NIMASA launched a digital application portal to commence the process, following directives to boost indigenous shipping capacity.
2.5 THE COVERT OPERATION: FOREIGN SEAFARERS SMUGGLED ONTO COASTAL VESSELS
Perhaps the most alarming dimension of foreign crew dominance on Nigerian coastal vessels is not merely regulatory non-compliance but active circumvention of the law. Investigations have uncovered a structured system through which foreign nationals are clandestinely placed aboard vessels operating in Nigerian waters. Despite the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act 2003, which seeks to protect Nigerian seafarers and the shipping industry, foreign seafarers are still being smuggled from neighbouring Togo and Benin Republic to board vessels on the nation’s waters in contravention of the law.
The mechanism is calculated. Foreign seafarers are flown to Benin Republic and Togo from where they are picked up mid-sea on the territorial waters of these countries and ferried to board vessels in Nigeria. The illegal operation was possible because most of the vessels operating under the Cabotage area in the country are foreign-owned with Nigerians as fronts to enable them operate freely.
The scale of this infiltration, according to maritime stakeholders, is staggering. Some maritime observers have stated that sometimes out of a hundred ships that call to Nigeria, “you may not see five Nigerians working inside those ships. But they are bringing goods to Nigeria. So the Cabotage Act itself has not really worked.”
2.6 WEAK INTER-AGENCY SYNERGY AND FRAGMENTED ENFORCEMENT
The enforcement of cabotage is not the function of a single agency. It requires coordinated action among NIMASA, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), and the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA). This coordination has historically been absent.
A lack of inter-agency synergy among NIMASA, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), resulting in fragmented enforcement, has been identified as a major contributing factor to the persistent failure of the Cabotage regime.
The consequences of this fragmented approach are practical and immediate: vessels can be refused at one regulatory point and cleared at another; compliance documentation is not cross-checked across agencies; and foreign operators learn the administrative fault lines between institutions and exploit them.
2.7 POLITICAL INTERFERENCE AND ABSENCE OF POLITICAL WILL
Running through all the institutional and legal challenges is a thread of political failure that analysts return to repeatedly. The problems can be related to the inadequate understanding of the basic requirements of the Cabotage Act by the regulators and the government’s lack of will power in implementing the regime. This has led to the annual loss of over $6 billion to foreign maritime operators due to the lack of indigenous participation.
“Political will remains the most decisive factor in rescuing the Cabotage regime from perpetual stagnation. Government should declare emergency in cabotage implementation,” maritime stakeholders have urged.
Nigerian maritime experience has shown that African nations are not lacking in the development of well thought-out policy blueprints for maritime development; they rather have poor policy implementation strategies, as past records have shown — a failure pattern that mirrors the total abandonment of the UNCTAD 40-40-20 policy before it.
$200m Fish Lifeline: FG Taps World Bank Funds to Push States Towards Fish Sufficiency
Oyetola Sets Sights on Net Exporter Status as FG Secures $200m World Bank Backing for State-Led Aquaculture
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
The Federal Government says it has secured a $200 million commitment from the World Bank Group to drive fisheries and aquaculture production nationwide, as it moves to cut fish imports and close a supply gap of more than 2.2 million tonnes.
The money will be lent to state governments on concessional terms. It is meant to help them expand fish production, attract investment and build viable aquaculture projects.
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr Adegboyega Oyetola, announced this at an Executive Training on the Aquaculture Investment Guide, organised by his ministry with the World Bank Group in Abuja. He was represented by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Marine and Blue Economy, Professor Busayo Fakinlede.
Oyetola said fish is central to food security, household nutrition and rural livelihoods, and that Nigeria cannot be food secure while importing most of its fish. He said the goal is to “produce more, import less” and eventually become a net exporter, which he said requires every state to play its part.
The numbers
Nigeria needs about 3.6 million tonnes of fish a year but produces roughly 1.4 million tonnes. Imports cover the gap and cost nearly $1 billion annually in foreign exchange.
State-driven framework
Under the ministry’s framework, each state is expected to:
identify priority aquaculture value chains
assess investment readiness
develop bankable project pipelines
commit to measurable contributions to national fish output
The training brought together commissioners from Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Cross River States, plus permanent secretaries and directors of fisheries and aquaculture from across the federation. It covered business models, risk management, environmental and social safeguards, and public-private partnerships.
A Federal-State interface is also planned to coordinate a national fish security strategy.
Oyetola commended the World Bank for its support on analytical studies, cluster-based development, capacity building and the Aquaculture Investment Guide. He will oversee a post-training stakeholders’ roundtable with states and other stakeholders to sustain momentum.
Ministry’s scorecard
Fakinlede credited the minister’s leadership for:
the August 2026 inauguration of the Technical Committee on Accelerating Fish Production
digitisation of fish import licensing
a rise in national output from 1.1 million to 1.4 million tonnes
US shrimp-export certification after compliance with Turtle Excluder Device requirements
the Fish City and Fish Terminal investment portfolio to attract private capital
NIGERIA WATCH
Read the fine print. As of 9 November, I could not find a published World Bank project document for the $200 million, and the figure rests on the ministry’s statement. The repayment period, interest rate, per-state allocation and disbursement date have not been made public, and it is unclear whether this is new money or part of financing already agreed. Waterways News should press the ministry on these before treating the figure as settled.
Loans, not grants. States carry the debt and must show bankable projects. Strong states like Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Cross River, whose commissioners attended, sit on the water and are best placed to benefit. Inland and riverine communities lacking project-preparation capacity risk being left behind.
The missing small operators. The framework speaks of investors, PPPs and bankable pipelines. It says little about artisanal fishers, boat operators and fishing communities, including those represented by WABOTAN and ATBOWATON, who supply and move much of the country’s fish. Without cold chains, landing jetties, safe water transport and affordable engines, higher production will not reach markets.
Policy versus delivery. The target is ambitious, with output reportedly up from 1.1 million to 1.4 million tonnes. Yet Nigeria still meets under 40 per cent of its fish demand, and it has heard similar promises before, from the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund onward. The test is whether the roundtable produces dates, allocations and measurable state commitments.
Blue Economy
Oyetola Takes Nigeria’s Case on Gulf of Guinea Security and Seafarer Welfare to IMO Council in London
Oyetola Takes Nigeria’s Case on Gulf of Guinea Security and Seafarer Welfare to IMO Council in London
Minister says seafarers must not become casualties of geopolitical disputes as Nigeria presses for stronger technical support for developing maritime nations
By Ighoyota Onaibre | Waterways News
Nigeria’s Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr. Adegboyega Oyetola, has restated the country’s commitment to safe, secure and sustainable international shipping. He is leading a high-level delegation to the 138th session of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Council in London.
The five-day session opened on November 2 at the IMO headquarters and ends today, November 6, 2026. Nigeria’s participation is meant to strengthen its voice in global maritime governance and to advance the interests of developing maritime nations.
Nigeria sits on the 40-member Council under Category C. The session is considering the protection of vital shipping routes, the welfare and safety of seafarers, institutional governance and the sustainability of the global maritime industry.
Protecting vital shipping lanes
A central issue is the protection of strategic shipping routes against growing security threats and attacks on commercial vessels in high-risk zones. Under Agenda Item 11, “Protection of Vital Shipping Lanes,” Nigeria is expected to draw on its experience combating piracy and maritime crime in the Gulf of Guinea to push for stronger international cooperation and coordinated security responses.
“Nigeria recognises that the challenges confronting the global maritime industry require collective action, stronger international cooperation and effective regulatory frameworks,” Oyetola said. He added that Nigeria was at the Council to see its interests represented and to contribute to solutions that strengthen maritime security, protect seafarers and promote sustainable shipping.
He said the progress made in the Gulf of Guinea showed that maritime insecurity can be tackled “through political commitment, effective coordination and cooperation among regional and international partners.”
Seafarer welfare
Seafarer welfare is also high on the agenda. This follows IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez’s condemnation of the use of seafarers as pawns in geopolitical disputes. Nigeria is backing measures to prevent the arbitrary detention and abandonment of seafarers, and to ensure their fair treatment, safe repatriation and mental well-being.
“Seafarers are the lifeblood of international shipping,” Oyetola said. “Their safety, dignity and welfare must never be compromised by geopolitical tensions.”
Budget and capacity building
The Council is also reviewing financial allocations for the 2026–2027 biennium and strategic priorities for 2028–2029. Nigeria sees this as an opening to push for more technical cooperation and capacity-building support for developing maritime countries.
Oyetola said developing maritime nations “must have access to the technical expertise, institutional support and investment opportunities required to participate meaningfully in the evolving global shipping industry.”
The delegation
The minister is accompanied by:
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, Mrs. Fatima Mahmood
The Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Dayo Mobereola
The Director of Maritime Services, Mr. Oyinloye Meshack
Nigeria’s Alternate Permanent Representative at the IMO, Mr. William Bwala
Nigeria Watch
A heavy session. The Council has dealt with more than Nigeria’s agenda this week. Other delegations have also pressed seafarer protection and freedom of navigation, with Liberia and Indonesia among the countries that raised them. The session has also given attention to security in the Strait of Hormuz and the Black Sea. On Wednesday, the Council recommended a second four-year term for Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez, running from 2028 to 2031. The IMO Assembly must still approve it in 2027. Nigeria’s message on the Gulf of Guinea has been delivered in a crowded room.
Hormuz is a Nigerian issue. This newsroom has followed the Strait of Hormuz crisis closely, from rising freight rates to war-risk insurance premiums at Nigerian ports. Oyetola’s call to shield seafarers from geopolitical tension is not abstract. Dominguez has said thousands of seafarers in the region live and work under heightened risk, and the IMO’s tally of seafarers killed in the region since February stood at 24 as of November 5.
Where the Gulf of Guinea story stands. Nigeria is presenting its Gulf of Guinea record as a model, and the Deep Blue Project is the backbone of that claim. NIMASA has just showcased upgraded assets at AFRIDEX 2026. Delegates in London will weigh the narrative against what stakeholders at home actually experience on the water.
The home test. Nigeria’s arguments at the IMO for seafarer dignity, fair treatment and capacity-building support will carry weight in proportion to how well they are matched at home.
Questions that Waterways News continues to raise:
Do Nigerian seafarers and inland waterway workers enjoy the safety and welfare standards the minister is championing abroad?
Will the technical cooperation Nigeria is seeking reach small-scale and informal waterway operators, such as those under WABOTAN and ATBOWATON, or stay at the policy level?
With Nigeria holding a Council seat, how will diplomatic wins in London be turned into delivery at home, from CVFF disbursement to NPERA implementation?
Waterways News will keep tracking the outcome of the 138th Council session and what it means for Nigerian maritime stakeholders.
Blue Economy
NIWA Deploys Enforcers to Niger Waterfronts as Boat Operators Cry Out Over Life Jacket Shortage
NIWA Deploys Enforcers to Niger Waterfronts as Boat Operators Cry Out Over Life Jacket Shortage
Operators say a 300-seater has only seven jackets, and ask for prices to drop from N20,000 to as low as N5,000
By Raymond Gold | Waterways News
The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has sent enforcement personnel to waterfronts across Niger State to make life jacket use compulsory and ensure compliance with inland waterways safety rules.
NIWA’s Minna Area Manager, Akapo Adeboye, announced this at the 2026 Sensitisation and Enlightenment Campaign on Inland Waterways Regulations at Zumba Waterfront, Shiroro Local Government Area. The campaign theme was “Total Safety Measures and Compliance on the Nation’s Inland Waterways.”
Adeboye said NIWA has given 3,500 life jackets to boat operators at waterfronts across the state. He was troubled, however, that some operators neither wear the jackets nor provide them for passengers during trips.
He also condemned operators who charge passengers extra to use a life jacket, saying this discourages compliance. He said the safety of lives and property remains a priority of the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, and that operators and passengers alike must wear life jackets before boarding. Violators, he warned, will face the full weight of the law.
Some operators at the event said scarcity and cost make full compliance impossible.
Adamu Gunduma said his boat carries 300 passengers but he has seven life jackets, one of them for himself. The other six go to passengers on a first-come, first-served basis.
Adamu Tanko said his 150-passenger boat has three life jackets.
Saidu Sani said his 40-passenger boat has none, for himself or his passengers.
Abubakar Mamman-Kwanu appealed to government and other stakeholders for more jackets through donations and support programmes.
The operators said a life jacket costs about N20,000 on the market and asked authorities to bring the price down to between N5,000 and N6,000. They added that high prices and falling farm-produce prices could keep many farmers from buying one. Farmers, they said, make up a large share of water transport users in the area. They called for stronger government intervention, arguing that easier access to life jackets would improve compliance and prevent avoidable deaths.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) first reported the development on Monday.
Nigeria Watch
Enforcement is arriving before supply. Gunduma, Tanko and Sani together operate boats licensed for 490 passengers, yet they reported 10 life jackets between them. Telling such operators to refuse boarding without a jacket is, for now, an order they cannot obey. Cheap jackets must reach waterfronts before penalties are enforced, or enforcement will fall hardest on the poorest operators.
NIWA has also faced a misuse problem. Adeboye said in an earlier interview that people sell the jackets, use them as pillows or farm tools. He said that when his team revisited a waterfront after a 3,500-jacket flag-off, they could not find one in use. Both complaints can be true at once, and the way out is a mix of local ownership, fitting by boat capacity and visible checks by marshals.
The stakes are real and well documented. After a July 2025 mishap at Zumba, Adeboye said 26 passengers wearing life jackets were rescued alive, 15 bodies were recovered and three people were missing. He noted that the incident came eight days after a NIWA sensitization campaign at the same waterfront.
Marshals and penalties are already in place. Waterways marshals were inaugurated at Zumba to enforce transport regulations. Adeboye has also said NIWA gazetted penalty codes for operators and passengers who fail to comply. The open question is whether operators get realistic access to compliance before sanctions bite.
Questions for NIWA and the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy:
How many jackets are needed to cover the licensed capacity of boats at Niger waterfronts, against the 3,500 supplied?
Can bulk procurement or local assembly bring the N20,000 price down?
Will NIWA publish compliance figures and sanctions issued after the campaign?
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