The former Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dr Dakuku Peterside, has said that implementing an attractive road map policy framework will boost the blue economy.

Mr Peterside said this during an interview in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Wednesday.

He said the “Foundational thing to do to enhance the blue economy is to put in place an attractive road map that would woo investors into the sector.”

According to him, creating a policy framework and ecosystem that will be attractive and simple to understand, measurable, accessible, easy to appraise and setting targets will enhance the blue economy in the country.

“For blue economy to thrive, the most important factor today in Nigeria is security and from background knowledge, the government has made the first effort to fix security by channelling deep blue projects.

“Deep blue project is a multi-dimensional maritime security project that tackles maritime security from air, sea and land perspectives. I think the government is doing something along those lines.

“I’m aware that the Minister of Blue Economy and Marine Services is putting together a road map that will be availed to the investors.

“If the investors know the resources we have, the policies in place and other frameworks that the government has put in place to harness the blue economy, I believe that people will invest in our blue economy,” Mr Peterside said.

He said that deep blue project would enhance the capacity for surveillance and intelligence gathering.

“It has capacity for response and prosecution of intercepted or suspected criminals. So, to that extent, I think that the government has taken the very first and right step.

“I think another step that the government needs to take is drawing and implementing an attractive road map, there must be an integrated way of harnessing occasion resources. The entire concept of blue economy is about harnessing occasion resources.

“We can’t harness occasional resources, if we don’t know the endowment and have no plan how to go about it.

“There must be a strategy in place to harness occasion resources. The strategy will lead us to a plan and the plan will attract the investors when they see clearly that we have an attractive road map,” he said.

Mr Peterside also said that there would be transparency and accountability in the deep blue economy, if benchmarks were put in place and evaluated from time to time.

“If we know what we expect as a country, we benchmark it and evaluate it from time to time and be open for questions and interrogations. That way, we will build the capacity for transparency and accountability.

“But if we have no basis or benchmark to march the progress we are making, there will be no foundation for anybody to hold people accountable,” he said.

He further said that when the Ministry of Blue Economy put to the public what it is doing, the people would be able to monitor those things and ask questions when they notice that the ministry was not on track. (NAN)