PROPOSAL ON THE USE OF ICT IN MARITIME INDUSTRY

Introduction

The maritime sector in Nigeria comprises of ports, shipping, dockyards, Inland Water Transport (IWT) and all marine related activities. It caters for the bulk of Nigeria’s trade and investment through import and exchange of commodities which is critical for the economic development of the country. It also influences the pace, structure and pattern of development.

Recently, there has been a surge of concern about maritime safety and security, with particular focus on the danger that insecurity of the seas poses to Nigerian commerce and the country’s peace and stability. The quest for peaceful trade and movement over the water ways, adequate security, stability and development in the Nigerian maritime sector is of paramount importance. Up until 2009, members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, were a torn in the flesh of the government as they repeatedly blew up oil installations located in the Niger Delta. Their activities were brought to an end after the Government of President Yaradua instituted the Amnesty program, but in 2016, a resurgence of these militant activities has been observed with the activities of Niger Delta Avengers threatening to grind economic activities of the Nigerian state to a halt. The contributions of globalization to the spread of weapons of mass destruction are alarming. Advancing technology coupled with the global spread of ideas and technologies has made it easier for states and even groups with resources to access critical knowledge, materials and technologies, pursue the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction: biological, chemical or nuclear (Obahighbon, 2010). ICT, Globalization and Maritime Piracy in Contemporary Africa. The resurgence of maritime piracy in contemporary Africa constitutes another major security challenge to the continent’s security. Maritime piracy has no doubt inflicted very profound economic, political, social and strategic consequences on the continent and it peoples that it threatens the entire fabric and ramifications of the continent’s security architecture. The bewildering increase in the number of the incidences of maritime piracy is unquantifiable as the damage done to the continent’s peace, stability, prosperity, development, environmental, investment, revenue, humanitarian, commercial, energy, and food security terms is colossal (Uadiale and Yonmo, 2010a). Accelerated globalization, which as a consequence has intensified and increased global commerce, as well as the Africa’s states’ failure to fulfill its quintessential traditional role and function of security provisions has impacted negatively upon maritime security, and consequently, resulting in the midwife of the phenomenon, of maritime piracy.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Maritime transport which is also called water borne transport is one of the modes of transportation of goods and /or persons, which has for centuries been the main prerequisite for trade transactions between nations and regions, and has without doubt, played an important role in creating economic development and prosperity(Igbokwe, 2001). The maritime industry occupies a very prominent position in the economies of nations all over the world. The industry in its strict sense embraces all business activities which take place within the maritime environment. These includes offshore economic activities such as fishing, salvage, towage, underwater resource exploitation/extraction, and onshore economic activities in ports, shipping activities, ship construction, repair and maintenance. Of all these, shipping stands out as the greatest boost to a nation’s economic growth and international status. This is because all other maritime activities revolve around shipping. The oil and gas sector, for instance depends on shipping, as it is the vehicle that drives it, enabling it to make all the difference in an economy. Due to the close link between shipping activities and economic development, most nations cannot afford to toy with the industry. It is in view of this that the researcher decide to investigate the use of ICT in maritime industry.

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