The Secretary General of the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA), Dr. Paul Adalikwu has said that the Niger Delta can emerge as one of Africa’s most important integrated maritime, energy, industrial, logistics and blue economy growth corridors if the region moves deliberately from resource extraction to value creation.
Adalikwu make this known while addressing the inaugural Niger Delta Economic and Investment Summit (NDEIS) at the Obi Wali International Conference Centre in Port Harcourt.
The three-day summit, organised by the Niger Delta Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Trade, Mines and Agriculture (NDCCITMA) in partnership with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), is themed “Driving Investment, Innovation and Industrial Growth in the Niger Delta.”
Dr. Adalikwu said the region’s hydrocarbons, waterways, wetlands, coastline, ports, fisheries, entrepreneurial communities and young population were extraordinary assets, but that abundance of resources does not automatically produce prosperity.
“The real determinant of prosperity is the ability to transform resources into productive assets, industries, jobs, trade and investment returns.
“We must move from extraction to value addition; from isolated projects to integrated economic systems; and from dialogue to bankable deals”, he said.
The MOWCA SG stated that the Niger Delta should no longer merely export crude oil. It should export refined products, petrochemicals, gas-based products, processed agricultural commodities, manufactured goods, maritime services and knowledge.
Waterways, he said, should become economic corridors, and the coastline the base of a competitive maritime economy.
Describing the Niger Delta as “fundamentally a maritime region,” Adalikwu said its future cannot be designed without putting the maritime economy at the centre of development strategy.
He said shipping, ports, inland waterways, shipbuilding and repair, marine engineering, fisheries, aquaculture, offshore services, logistics, maritime tourism and marine technology all generate value.
A modern port, he added, multiplies demand for trucking, warehousing, banking, insurance, ICT, manufacturing, construction and hospitality. An efficient inland waterway lowers logistics costs and reconnects communities that are otherwise isolated.
According to him the blue economy as an integrated ecosystem covering sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, inland waterway transport, ports and logistics, ship repair, offshore energy services, marine technology, coastal tourism, renewable offshore energy, marine biotechnology, waste management and climate-resilient coastal infrastructure.
“Imagine a region where agricultural products from inland communities are transported through efficient waterways to processing centres, from processing centres to logistics hubs, and from those hubs through modern ports into regional and international markets,” he said.
Adalikwu said the region’s location on the Gulf of Guinea should be treated as a strategic economic asset linking some of Africa’s most important producing and consuming markets.
MOWCA, which brings together 25 member states — 20 coastal and five landlocked — across West and Central Africa, wants the Niger Delta positioned as a gateway into the West and Central African maritime economy, not only as an oil-producing region within Nigeria.
He linked that ambition to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), warning that trade agreements do not move cargo. Infrastructure, logistics, shipping and efficient borders do.
Without stronger intra-African maritime connectivity, feeder services, coastal shipping and African shipping finance, the continent would continue to lose value to extra-African networks.
The Secretary General backed several proposals already before the summit, with conditions.
On agriculture, he said a palm-oil refinery was the right kind of thinking: produce, process, package, finance, transport and export. The same logic, he said, should apply to rubber, cassava, cocoa, fisheries and other commodities.
On connectivity, he said that aspect must be treated holistically — air, road, rail, inland waterway, port and digital, because investors follow places where goods, people, capital and information move efficiently.
Adalikwu described trust as “the most important infrastructure.” Predictable rules, fast approvals, secure title, reliable power, efficient dispute resolution and transparent PPPs determine whether capital arrives or goes elsewhere.
Peace and security, he said, are likewise economic infrastructure. There is no sustainable investment without security, no competitive maritime economy without maritime security, and no inclusive development without social stability.
He explained that the answer is a development–security–investment nexus in which communities see tangible benefits, young people have pathways into work, local firms join value chains and investors can protect assets.
He called youth the region’s greatest untapped asset and urged pathways from education to skills, entrepreneurship, finance, markets and jobs — especially in marine engineering, naval architecture, port operations, logistics, hydrography, maritime law, data science and environmental management. Africa, he said, cannot build a competitive maritime economy by importing most of its technical expertise.
Commending organisers for aiming beyond dialogue to deal execution, Adalikwu proposed a Niger Delta Investment and Blue Economy Compact, bringing together governments, the NDDC, development finance institutions, private investors, communities and technical partners around a defined project pipeline.
He listed ten priority items including a regional development bank; an integrated maritime and logistics corridor; an air-connectivity network; gas utilisation and industrialisation; palm-oil and agro-industrial clusters; a blue-economy investment programme; inland waterway development; ship-repair and offshore services clusters; coastal resilience and environmental restoration; and a youth maritime, technology and entrepreneurship programme.
Each project, he said, should have a sponsor, feasibility pathway, financing strategy, timetable and measurable outcomes. Every priority scheme should answer five questions: what it is; its economic and social value; how much capital is required; the financing and PPP structure; and what is needed to reach financial close.
Adalikwu said MOWCA stands ready to support maritime connectivity, safety and security, ports and shipping, inland waterways, human-capacity development, ship repair, blue-economy investment and the harmonisation of maritime policy.
“We should increasingly think of the Gulf of Guinea not simply as a maritime security space, but as an economic production and connectivity space,” he said. “Security must create the conditions for commerce; commerce must create prosperity; and prosperity must reinforce stability.”
He called for a new narrative of investment, innovation, enterprise, maritime connectivity, industrialisation and shared prosperity.
“The future should not be something that happens to the Niger Delta. The future must be built by the Niger Delta — and built for the prosperity of its people, Nigeria and Africa”, he said.
