The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, CON, has urged the National Assembly to support the Ministry’s infrastructural development by increasing the Ministry’s 2025 capital budget appropriation and overhead to enable it harness the untapped potentials of the Marine and Blue Economy sector.
The Minister made this known while addeessing a Joint House Committee of the Senate on Marine Transport and the House of Representatives Committees on Ports and Harbour, Maritime Safety, Education and Administration, Inland Waterways and Shipping Services today in Abuja.
“As a newly created Ministry, our initial focus is to set up enduring structures and systems for the effective management of the blue economy sector. The notable deficiencies in the sector such as general infrastructure decay, silted river courses, inadequate fish production, and inadequate river crafts require major attention,” he observed.
Still speaking, the Minister said: “Quantum investment through the capital budget is necessary for the Ministry to deliver on its lofty mandate and potential. Greater budgetary provision is therefore advocated. The proposed total Capital Budget of N11,770,533,003 (Eleven Billion, Seven Hundred and Seventy Million, Five Hundred and Thirty-three Thousand, Three Naira) and Overhead of N453,856,327 (Four Hundred and Fifty-three Million, Eight Hundred and Fifty-six Thousand, Three hundred and Twenty-seven Naira) though inadequate is for your kind consideration”.
The Minister, further noted that the 2025 Budget is tagged “Budget of Restoration: Securing Peace, Rebuilding Prosperity”; therefore the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy and its Agencies under the 2025 Budget seek to consolidate and sustain on the achievements and performances recorded in the immediate past year by focusing on: Ports Infrastructural Development, Increased fish production, Maritime Safety and Security, Information Technology Deployment, Human Capacity Building, and Effective Technical and Economic Regulation to ensure the strengthening of blue economy in Nigeria”.
Regarding the agencies who were physically present at the briefing, Oyetola, informed “that three (3) of the Agencies under the Ministry, namely: NPA, NIMASA, and NSC, are fully self-funding and make significant remittances to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF/TSA). The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron derives their funding from both the FGN Budget and Internally Generated Revenue.
For the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), the Minister said “based on my passionate plea has been readmitted into the budget for funding albeit erroneously under the Federal Ministry of Transport. I trust that you will rectify this.
Also, the Minister said he was counting on the cooperation of the Assembly members to ensure that the five Agencies under the Fisheries and Aquaculture sector (Institutes and Colleges) fully come under the Ministry in the 2025 Budget.
The Honourable Minister concluded by thanking the Committee for their attention and urged them to consider the propositions and note the very compelling needs of the Ministry.
Speaking after the budget presentation, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Marine and Blue Economy, Sanni Eshinlokun said the Ministry will be given the needed support to succeed as it is presently underfunded. He proposed that the budget of the Ministry should naturally match its KPI to be impactful.
He urged the Ministry to begin now to engage stakeholders to ensure it gets the needed funds to match delivery its mandates in 2026.
Signed
Anastasia Ogbonna
D (Information & PR)
