Dr Dakuku Peterside, Chairman of the Association of African Maritime Administration (AAMA), called developed nations and corporate bodies to support Africa and other developing countries, with the goal of building capacity and regulatory enforcement needed to maximize benefits of the ocean economy.
Specifically, Dr Dakuku, while speaking in Nor-Shipping Exhibition, highlighted that Ocean industries will be contributing to Sustainable development goals only when both developing and developed nations benefit in a matter of sustainability.
Dr Dakuku, also the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), referred to the fact that 38 out of Africa’s 54 nations are either coastal or island states; Thus, they face the challenges, such as pollution, climate change, poor ocean governance , overfishing, insecurity and marine litter amongst others.
In the meantime, he noted that developing and small island states are in the need of collaborations in two areas of building up their regulatory enforcement capacity and developing amongst them the skills and technology needed to tap into the ocean economy in a sustainable manner.
He challenged the private sector companies in offshore exploration and other ocean economic activities to apply the same operating and environmental standards across the globe and not have two different standards, one for developed nations and another for developing nations.
As Dr Dakuku concluded that
Applying the same standards will ensure no one is left behind in our collective quest for clean and sustainable ocean that support economic prosperity. Responsible ocean governance and economic opportunities are not mutually exclusive but complementary.
