USA Canvasses Nigeria's Maritime Development

Consul General, United States Embassy in Nigeria, Mr. Jeffrey Hawkins

John Iwori

The United States of America (USA) has stressed the need for Nigeria to develop the maritime sector of her economy.

The western super-power also enumerated the perennial incidence of criminal activities along the coastlines of the Nigerian waters as her major obstacle against maritime development. It added that the situation is even made worse by what it described as the “seeming ineffectual security response” to the malaise.

Consul General, United States Embassy in Nigeria, Mr. Jeffrey Hawkins, who expressed the minds of his country’s government in Lagos, said America is concerned with the trend as available data has indicated that the situation is worsening, despite an earlier International Maritime Bureau (IMB) to the contrary.

The envoy noted that while the IMB had reported a substantial drop in the menace in 2012 to its lowest level in five years, it said: “yet at the same time the frequency of maritime attacks in the Gulf of Guinea has increased significantly”.

With data to support his claims, Hawkins said the situation does not even offer a glimmer of hope, considering that there were no “major improvements in institutional collaboration and a marked increase in political will”.

Continuing, the envoy said: “Both the available data and the anecdotal evidence suggest that the situation is only worsening. We have difficulty seeing how it is going to get better in the near-term without major improvements in institutional collaboration, and a marked increase in political will.”
According to him, the very bodies that are expected to protect and defend the maritime commerce are instead perceived to be undermining it. Indeed it could be agreed that there was a huge problem.

He noted that Nigeria is a country with a lot of potentials, but added that the challenge is not in having potential, but to realise that potentials.

Hawkins said more than anything else, there must be a substantial increase in political will to effect a substantial and sustainable positive change to Nigeria’s maritime environment.
His words: “A frank recognition that there is a major challenge and a willingness to do something (or things) about it will be a way forward. Many interlocutors have asserted to us that this is the biggest hurdle: the impetus to do things differently - transparently, effectively, in line with global best practices - has been lacking.”

The envoy enjoined Nigeria, nay Nigerians, to borrow a leaf from other countries that have had this kind of problem in the past and have successfully tackled it.