NSE urges govt to harness shoreline potential

The Nigerian Society of Engineers has known as on the Federal Authorities to discover the financial alternatives supplied by the nation’s 850km shoreline to develop the non-oil sector.

This was a part of the observations issued in a communique on the 58th Worldwide Engineering Convention, Exhibition, and Annual Common Assembly, held on the Worldwide Convention Centre, University of Ibadan, Oyo State, on Friday.

Presenting the communique to journalists on Saturday, the President of NSE, Margaret Oguntala, mentioned Nigeria has the potential to develop non-oil sectors corresponding to fisheries, aquaculture, coastal tourism, marine biotechnology, and renewable ocean vitality.

She defined that the nation’s lengthy shoreline, if correctly utilised, may considerably improve financial development, significantly in diversifying from the oil and fuel sector.

“There are rising environmental threats corresponding to coastal erosion, flooding, air pollution from industrial effluents, oil spills, and unmanaged waste, which proceed to degrade marine ecosystems and endanger livelihoods. These stay persistent threats resulting from restricted fashionable coastal defence engineering options,” Oguntala mentioned.

As an answer, the NSE urged the federal government to develop an built-in Nationwide Blue Financial system Coverage Framework that harmonizes the roles of all related businesses, together with the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Security Company, Nigerian Ports Authority, Nationwide Inland Waterways Authority, Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Maritime Academy of Nigeria (Oron), Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, and numerous fisheries and marine expertise institutes.

The communique acknowledged, “Nigerian engineers must be challenged to amass prerequisite management expertise and positioned to construct the infrastructure and develop the applied sciences required to unlock the potential inherent within the marine and blue economic system to be able to scale back reliance on the oil business.”

It additional known as on the federal government and personal sector to collaborate and prioritise the modernisation and growth of ports, jetties, and coastal transportation infrastructure, adopting international engineering finest practices. Investments in marine biotechnology, aquaculture applied sciences, and ocean renewable vitality techniques have been additionally advisable to unlock useful resource potential.

“Authorities in collaboration with related stakeholders ought to create devoted nationwide applications to improve coastal safety techniques utilizing sustainable engineering designs, corresponding to eco-revetments and nature-based shoreline stabilisation,” the communique added.

“Additionally, the federal government ought to strengthen enforcement capability via engineering-enabled surveillance techniques, maritime security protocols, compliance monitoring instruments, in addition to marine air pollution monitoring applied sciences and engineering-driven waste-management options,” it concluded.