... Says Bringing Shipbuilders to Nigeria Will Open Opportunities For The Sector
By Ewrhujakpor Godfrey Bivbere
Harboursandport.com: Abuja, Nigeria — September 16, 2026: Maritime expert Adakole Ejegbudu has faulted a plan by the Dangote Group to acquire about 1,800 ships from China.
Ejegbudu noted that his concern stems from a recent announcement by Devakumar Edwin, the Vice President of Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited.
Ejegbudu, a shipbuilder, yacht designer, and director at the Flotilla Academy of Marine Technology, stated that global shipbuilding companies would gladly set up operations in Nigeria if a local construction clause were added to the deal.
He noted that building even half of those ships locally would transform Nigeria's maritime sector and create thousands of direct and indirect jobs for citizens.
In a commentary shared on his Facebook page, Ejegbudu wrote: "We have a 'once-in-a-century' opportunity with the Dangote Refinery, but it seems we are doing our best to not take full advantage of it.
"I predicted years ago that Dangote would go into shipping, so I wasn't surprised by the announcement. I am, in fact, happy about it. What I am not happy about is that he is ordering 1,800 ships from China. Each has an average gross tonnage of 40,000.
"The total tonnage of those 1,800 ships is 72,000,000 tonnes, which is more than the tonnage of some serious maritime nations. Why do we want to hand that to China?" he questioned.
He continued: "There is no single shipbuilding company that would not set up operations here if you gave them a contract for 100 of those ships, with the proviso that they must be built here. This is the exact spirit of the Cabotage Act.
"If we were to build just 900 of those vessels here, it would irreversibly transform shipbuilding in the country. It would also transform several ancillary, incidental, and adjacent industries. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs.
"Alhaji Aliko Dangote said he wants to be remembered as the person who industrialized Africa. Now is the time to back that up," he concluded.
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