Nigeria’s Blue Economy: A Panacea for Employment Generation, Trade and Development

Purpose: Nigeria is facing serious economic challenges that necessitate a shift towards diversification to achieve sustainable development. The recent change in government has brought new promises to combat corruption and uplift the common man, but economic diversification remains a pressing priority. The country over-reliance on oil, which dominates its economy, has made it vulnerable to global economic uncertainties and fluctuating oil prices. It’s imperative for the government to recognize that oil is not an endless source of revenue and diversification is essential to break free from the limitation of a mono—economy. Thus, the Blue Economy, is an innovative and dynamic approach that balances economic growth with environmental sustainability. It seeks to harness the potential of Nigeria’s vast coastline, marine resources, and inland water-ways to drive national development and identify opportunities for employment generation in coastal and marine -related industries. Methodology: Based on the research objective the study employs the Dynamic Ordinary Least Square (DOLS) and the Johansen Cointegrating Regression (JCR) estimation methods to evaluate the sustainability of the employment generation by Nigerian’s blue economy, using annual time series data (secondary data) covering the period 1986-2022, to investigate the potential impact of blue economy and employment generation in Nigeria. Findings: The blue economy offers significant opportunities for Nigeria to achieve sustainable development and economic growth by investing in the sustainable use of marine resources, Nigeria can diversify its economy, create jobs, and improve livelihoods. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Finally, policy should be formulated to make the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy should establish a comprehensive national policy on marine and blue economy, aligning with United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982 integrate provisions of the Sustainable Development Goals 14 and engage public private partnerships (PPP) to develop port and transport infrastructure to promote coastal recreation and tourism along the coast.