{"title":"A Critical Assessment of Nigeria\u2019s Legal and Institutional Framework for Ocean and Coastal Governance","authors":[{"name":"Asemebo, Fortune Amina Iminabo","initials":"A.F.A.I.","affiliation":null,"orcid":null,"email":null}],"abstract":"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\u2019s 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.","keywords":["Keywords: Ocean Governance","Regulatory Fragmentation","Constitutional Federalism","Blue Economy","Environmental Liability","Marine Spatial Planning"],"publication_date":"2026-09-11","journal":{"name":"Global Insights Law Journal","issn":"3141-5717","issn_type":"Electronic"},"volume":"1","issue":"3","article_number":20,"pages":null,"first_page":null,"last_page":null,"doi":"10.67588\/0003","url":"https:\/\/gilawjournal.com\/article\/a-critical-assessment-of-nigerias-legal-and-institutional-framework-for-ocean-and-coastal-governance","language":"English","document_type":"Article","publication_year":2026,"received_date":null,"accepted_date":null,"funding":[],"citations":[" ","[1] Ibrahim Badamasi Adamu, Strengthening maritime administration via blue economy in Nigeria (World Maritime University MSc Dissertation, 2025) 2.","[2] ibid, 2. 3","ibid, 2; see also Exclusive Economic Zone Act 1978 (Cap E17, LFN 2004).","[3] Adamu (n 1) 7.","[4] ibid, 2. 6","CEHRD, review of environmental legislations in nigeria (CEHRD Report, 2021) 40.","[5] Macaulay Akpan, ‘Legal Framework for Sustainable Conservation of Fishery Resources in the Marine Environment of Nigeria’ (2025) 13(1) Brawijaya Law Journal 51, 53.","[6] Adamu (n 1) 18.","[7] ibid, 18. 10","S.C. Dike and Nheoma Eme Worugji, ‘Marine and Blue Economy Ministry, NIMASA, and the Blue Agenda’ (2025) 13(1) Rivers State University Journal of Public Law 251, 253.","[8] ibid, 253.","[9] Adamu (n 1) 2.","[10] CEHRD (n 4) 22.","[11] ibid, 22.","[12] ibid, 22.","[13] CEHRD (n 4) 21.","[14] Akpan (n 5) 53.","[15] CEHRD (n 4) 22.","[16] CEHRD (n 4) 40.","[17] Adamu (n 1) 24.","[18] ibid, 24.","[19] ibid, 24. 23 Collins Iwuorie, ‘Domestication and Status of Treaties in Nigeria: A Critique of Section 12 of the Constitution’ (2025) 2(2) Nnamdi Azikiwe University Journal of Public Law 60, 61.","[20] Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), s 12(1).","[21] Iwuorie (n 17) 63.","[22] Adamu (n 1) 19.","[23] Gbemisola Olumuyiwa Fatokun,An analysis of Nigeria’s domestic application of the Convention on Biological Diversity (University of KwaZulu-Natal LLM Thesis, 2014) 2.","[24] ibid, 2. 29","[2000] 6 NWLR (Pt 660) 288.","[25] ibid, 292; see also Constitution (n 19), s 1(3).","[26] Abacha (n 22) 292.","[27] (2008) 2 NWLR (Pt 1075) 575.","[28] Iwuorie (n 17) 63.","[29] Constitution (n 19), s 12(3).","[30] Iwuorie (n 17) 62.","[31] Constitution (n 19), s 20.","[32] Constitution (n 19), s 6(6)(c).","[33] CEHRD (n 4) 22.","[34] ibid, 22. 40","[2005] AHRLR 151.","[35] ibid, 153. 42","ibid, 154; see also African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act 1983 (Cap A9, LFN 2004).","[36] Gbemre (n 28) 154.","[37] ibid, 154.","[38] CEHRD (n 4) 22.","[39] CEHRD (n 4) 18.","[40] Constitution (n 19), Exclusive Legislative List, Item 36.","[41] Cap N47, LFN 2004.","[42] ibid, ss 8, 9.","[43] Sunday Maji, ‘Niwa v Laswa: Reflections on the Supreme Court’s Judgement in National Inland Waterways Authority’ (2024) 15(1) DOA Law Journal 35, 36."]}