Nigeria should replicate Philippines’ seafarer export model to earn $7bn annually -Experts

Nigeria should replicate Philippines’ seafarer export model to earn $7bn annually -Experts
Steve Agbota 01 June 2026 https://thesun.ng/nigeria-should-replicate-philippines-seafarer-export-m...

Experts in the nation’s maritime industry have said that Nigeria has the capacity and potential to earn about $7 billion in foreign exchange from seafarer exports.

The experts who spoke with Daily Sun said that, to harness the potential in the seafaring business, there is an urgent need for the Federal Government and the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy to replicate the Philippines’ seafarer export model.

However, Daily Sun learnt that Filipino seafarers make up roughly 25% of the global merchant marine crew, remitting approximately $7 billion annually back to the Philippines. This continuous influx of foreign exchange makes the maritime sector one of the country’s top economic drivers.

The experts said that considering the level of investment the government has made through the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) in training seafarers and coupled with the nation’s population, Nigeria’s seafaring industry has huge economic potential to generate a trillion annually for government coffers if repositioned.

Daily Sun learnt that in 2009, NIMASA initiated the National Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) for the training of cadets abroad, and between 2011 and January 2015, the Agency had spent over N20 billion to train 2,500 seafarers under the NSDP.

Speaking with Daily Sun, an expert in Marine and shipbuilding, Festus Obong, said Nigeria has the capacity to compete with the Philippines in exporting seafarers globally if the government sees it as a niche market to generate foreign exchange.

He said the first thing to do is to ensure that Nigerian seafarers are satisfied with their local Cabotage package, saying there is also a need to develop a blueprint for the nation’s seafarers for export business.

“For Nigeria to tap into this export business and compete with the Philippines, there is a need to start building our gladiator of seafarers to satisfy our local demands in the Cabotage industry first.

I think this is what we do as a nation. We need to build our seafarers for global maritime because you can’t export what you don’t have,” he said.

However, he blamed the Nigerian inability to export seafarers on a lack of professional training and a lack of enough sea-time. Adding that, as a nation, Nigeria does not have training vessels for the trainers to train the seafarers in the maritime sector.

He further pointed out that Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron and other allied institutions do not have what it takes to allow the so-called seafarers to attain the certificate of competency (CoC) such as the STCW-952010.

“You must first of all think about your own front. Philippines made about $7 billion as return by its seafarers annually because they have identified that area as a niche market and developed it to the extent that there is no foreign-going vessel that you will not see Filipino seafarers onboard.

“So Nigeria still have a very long way to go because you must train your seafarers for them to be satisfied with a certificate of competency identified by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) that is the starting point. The Nigerian cadets don’t have enough seatime because we don’t have trading vessels and training vessels. They need to get the seatime,” he added.

He argued that said the N20 billion spent on sending seafarers abroad would have made economic sense to purchase vessels, with which the Nigerian seafarers would get seatime training and experience.

Meanwhile, Gbenga Leke Oyewole, a seasoned maritime security expert and former Senior Special Assistant on Maritime Services to ex-President Goodluck, said that.

Nigeria was on track between 2011, 2012, and up to 2013 to tap into the seafaring export market.

“I don’t know what it is today, whether it is sustained or not, but all I know is that we were very much on track that time, and we had agreements with Egypt, with the UK, with India and with the Philippines, where we’re training Nigerians. Within a short period, we trained over 3,000 seafarers.

“All of them must have graduated by now. Whether that program is sustained in the NIMASA is what I don’t know, because the ultimate goal at that time was to satisfy the local needs and also to export to other nations from Nigeria. After all, there is a shortage of seafarers across the globe,” he explained.

“A part of it that I was attempting to do also was to bring in, there is this engineering company in Dallas that I wanted to bring to Nigeria at that time.

But then we couldn’t, because the time was no longer there for us to complete that. That company already has a footprint in Nigeria. They repair all sorts of engines and pumps in the oil industry in Nigeria. I was encouraging them to come and partner with NIMASA.

“We were even planning to use the training school of NPA to establish mechanical and electrical works for all the vessels in Nigeria. Because if you look at that sector also very well, you’ll find out that the people there need to be retained,” he said.

According to him, many of them need to be retained, not only in the ones they do, but in modern vessel configurations, so that they will understand and be able to be useful to the people in the industry locally and within the West African subregion.

“So these are the things we need to do; if we’ve lost focus in these directions, those are the areas we need to go back to. Re-establish the partnerships with those schools, send out more trainees from Nigeria, and, more importantly, establish a school in Nigeria, like the NPA School in Lagos there, can be used for such, where they train people, bringing the experts to train Nigerians that can serve in the industry.

“These people can not only be useful for the Nigerian industry and West African countries, but we also need them, and beyond West Africa. They can also work anywhere in the world, as long as they are trained in the modern engineering systems,” he explained.