Has Maritime Transport Sector Impacted on the Growth of Nigeria’s Economy?

Christiana Ogonna Igberi¹, Matthew Babatope Ogunniyi^2
(1. Department of Economics and Development Studies; Faculty of Social Sciences; Federal University Ndufu-Alike-Ikwo (FUNAI), Ebonyi State, Nigeria;
2. Department Of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria)

Abstract: Nigeria is bound by vast water resources along her coast, the access to sea water ways can therefore be explained by the volume of transportation of goods and persons to and from the country. This study investigates the effect of the Nigerian maritime sector on the growth of the Nigerian economy especially the industrial sector of the economy. This paper uses the method of ordinary least square and the seemingly unrelated regression to estimate the impact of this key sector. The data employed is secondary in nature and was sourced from CBN statistical bulletin. The result of the regression analysis shows that the maritime transport sector has a negative relationship, though not significant on the economic growth of the nation and also on industrialization of the Nigerian economy. The study concludes that for the Nigerian maritime transport to have a positive and significant impact on economic growth and industrialization in Nigeria, government should formulate policies that would encourage genuine foreign and private participations in the maritime sector of the economy.

Key words: maritime; transport; industrialization

JEL codes: C, O