batch-1791054073 1791054073 Global Insights Law Journal publisher@gilawjournal.com Global Insights Law Journal Global Insights Law Journal 3141-5717 2026 1 3 Asemebo, Iminabo Nigeria possessed extensive maritime endowments, including an 850-kilometre coastline and an Exclusive Economic Zone of over 200 nautical miles, holding an untapped blue economy potential estimated at 296 billion USD. However, the sustainable exploitation of these marine and coastal resources was severely hindered by a fragmented, multicephalous, and reactive legal and institutional framework. This article critically examined the jurisprudential architecture underpinning Nigeria’s ocean and coastal governance, identifying core structural vulnerabilities, including intense federal-state jurisdictional conflicts over navigable waters and coastal land-use, overlapping statutory mandates among regulatory agencies, administrative enforcement crises over environmental compliance, and barriers to liability in transnational environmental litigation. Through a doctrinal analysis of constitutional provisions, primary legislation, and recent landmark judicial decisions, this article exposed how the balkanised regulatory landscape frustrated effective marine conservation and sustainable maritime trade. This study incorporated comparative legal perspectives from developed and developing ocean states, namely Norway, Singapore, Brazil, and South Africa, to extract strategic policy lessons for Nigeria. It revealed how centralised ocean governance, environmental criminalisation, mandatory civil liability insurance, and comprehensive domestication of multilateral environmental agreements could resolve domestic regulatory blockages. Ultimately, the article argued for a paradigm shift from sectoral balkanisation to a centralised, integrated ocean management model, operationalised through Marine Spatial Planning and the establishment of a unified National Ocean Governance Commission under the newly created Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy. 2026 9 11 10.67588/0003 https://gilawjournal.com/article/a-critical-assessment-of-nigerias-legal-and-institutional-framework-for-ocean-and-coastal-governance Keywords: Ocean Governance Regulatory Fragmentation Constitutional Federalism Blue Economy Environmental Liability Marine Spatial Planning