ICT nexus to Nigeria’s blue economy – Expert
Mr. Idongesit Udoh, the Country Lead and Programme Adviser, Global Digital Access Programme, UK Government, has identified Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a crucial link between Nigeria’s blue and digital economy.
Udoh stated this at the African Maritime Art Exhibition (AMAE) with the theme, ‘The Convergence: Maritime Meets Information and Communication Technology (ICT)’, on Friday in Lagos while speaking on the topic, ‘ICT Disruption for the Sustainability of the Blue Economy’.
He noted that strategic investment in innovations would bring about the sustainability of the blue economy. He believes investing in innovations will benefit the nation’s blue economy and lead to positive outcomes.
“ICT is an enabler, and there are a lot of areas using ICT to aid growth in the blue economy for transportation, tourism, and others. There is surveillance using artificial intelligence, the internet of things, cyber security, documentation, and storage cloud computing.
“There is also decision-making which is on big data and data analytics on climate-related challenges. These are areas we can specially deploy technology to tackle local development challenges,” he said.
Udoh pointed out that the creation of a ministry dedicated to marine and blue economy will help address the challenges of infrastructure, capacity building, finance, and funding in the sector.
He emphasized the need for capacity building to shore up infrastructure capacity to accommodate the level of ICT adoption that is needed.
Mr. Mohammed Bello-Koko, the Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), noted that the lack of a port community system in Nigeria had made the nation’s port the most inefficient port in Africa.
Bello-Koko represented by Mr. Charles Okaga, Port Manager, Lagos Port Complex, Apapa, said a review with ports in Ghana, Benin Republic, and Togo was done, and this showed a drastic drop-in dwell time of cargo from 21 to three days.
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“This was achieved because they have a functional port community system. For the success of the system, it also requires the Power Holding Company of Nigeria to ensure consistent power supply in the port.
“This will also ensure Nigeria complies with the International Maritime Organisation instrument that frowns at vessels that steam in the port.
“What happens in the developing world is that once vessels come within the territorial water of a nation, it switches off and connect to the power sources of the port and the port powers the vessel until it leaves.
“The benefits of this is environmental safety, cleanliness, and also saving the vessel’s diesel. This also reduces the cost of doing business at the port, which leads to total productivity of the country’s port,” he said.
Mrs. Ezinne Azunna, Founder, African Maritime Art Exhibition (AMAE), noted that the aim of the conference was to help stakeholders find ICT solutions that would drive safer, swifter, more secure and cost-effective operations and innovations.
“AMAE uses photographs, textile art, paint, sculpture, and other motifs and subjects to tell stories and support caused around the blue economy. It remains the singular exhibition in Africa built around the portraiture of the blue economy and its causes, using aesthetic and semiotic elements,” she said.
