EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF NIGERIA'S BLUE ECONOMY AND PROSPECTS FOR ATTAINING ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE IN THE 21ST CENTURY


Bailey Saleh PhD
Senior Lecturer, University of Maiduguri, Nigeria
Abstract
Since her political independence in 1960, Nigeria has enjoyed robust revenue, albeit largely from foreign capital inflow from the petroleum sector for growing the gross national income and for general development. In spite of the over sixty years of the attraction of foreign capital and the generation of internal revenues from the domestic environment; the country’s gross national income is largely made-up of revenue from the Oil and Gas sector; that made it economically dependent on the whims and caprices of foreign buyers. The main aim of the study is to articulate strategies for boosting the blue economy and move the country towards a ‘Zero Oil’ economy. It was expected that deliberate domestic economic reforms introduced since 1999 would have created clean business environment that would focus inwardly towards harnessing all non-oil sources of revenue to be directed at industrialization and manufacturing. With sincerity of purpose from the political leadership, a manufacture-driven economy will lead to the production of unique products in which the country has comparative competitive advantage in the international market. The sales of which will yield much foreign revenues that will solidify Nigeria’s economic base. The blue economy which is an additional plank for the attainment of this manufacturing vogue was greatly underutilized or neglected. The study is a qualitative one where document method was adopted in generating data for the study through the scrutiny of secondary sources such as books, academic journals, magazines, newspapers, periodicals, and internet facilities. The data generated was analyzed through discourse and explanatory methods. The concepts of blue economy, gross national income, foreign capital inflow and comparative administration theory have been defined and clarified that served as frameworks for the study. At the end, recommendations have been proffered among which is the making of the new Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy to bring about great turnaround of the blue economy; to serve as an effective trigger for boosting other non-oil internal revenue sources. This will in turn lead to increase in the gross national income and the subsequent attainment of economic independence for country.
Keywords: Blue Economy, Economic Independence, Foreign Capital, Gross Domestic Product, Gross National Income, Internal Revenue.
Journal Name :
EPRA International Journal of Economics, Business and Management Studies (EBMS)

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Published on : 2026-01-21

Vol : 13
Issue : 1
Month : January
Year : 2026
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