AN APPRAISAL OF LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK ON MARITIME LAW IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

Nigeria has a land area of 923,768.64 square kilometers, with a coastline of over 823 kilometres and navigable inland waterways of about 4,000 kilometres. These confer on Nigeria great potentials. To what extent these potentials have been tapped for productivity and nation building would be appraised considering the attendant issues and challenges faced by the co-ordinating and regulating bodies. The research discusses the development of maritime industry in Nigeria with focus towards development, structural formation, legal and institutional framework, capacity building and cabotage and the role of the Nigerian Maritime and Administration and Security Agency (NIMASA). It also examines some challenges faced by cor-ordinating and regulating bodies such as enforcement policies as well as issues attendant in the industry are discussed briefly. Again, it takes a look at the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which provides the foundation for an effective regional maritime regime. However, this large and complex convention is not without its limitations. There are many examples of apparent non-compliance with its norms and principles. The root causes of these problems as discussed by this research lies in basic conflicts of interest between countries on the law of the sea issues, the built-in ambiguity of UNCLOS in several regimes, and the geographical complexity of the coastal and landlocked regions in particular. The research posits that the law of the seas, maritime, etc. between countries should be harmonized to avoid conflicts of laws that often affect the maritime industries generally.