IMPACT OF MARITIME FRAUD ON THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY

Abstract

Fraud generally is a negative phenomenon. Maritime fraud is not in any way different. In every economy, thereare negative and positive factors whose interplay determine the viability or otherwise of the economy and to alarge extent determine the capital base of the nation and its image in the international community. This studydiscovered that maritime fraud is a cankerworm which dealt serious blow to the economy of most countries ofthe world. Huge sums of money have been lost to the activities of fraudsters in the maritime sector. Internationalconfidence and credibility in maritime business have been negatively affected by the activities of maritimefraudsters. In Nigeria, the rot is so much that key players in the maritime field comprising government,importers and exporters and other stakeholders who are not among the beneficiaries of these orchestrated vicesin the industry daily desire a solution. Various strategies were adopted by the Nigerian government to tackle theproblem, the most heralded was the ports concession exercise introduced by government in the year 2000 aimedat achieving efficient and pro-active ports management with the capacity to eradicate all forms of fraud andvices at the Nigerian ports. However, this device came up with its own challenges and left a situation hard todescribe as its after-effect oscillated between genuine solutions and the old order. This study concluded that thedefective and distasteful as cabotage regime might appear to other stakeholders still have the statutory to assistthe maritime development in Nigeria. This study recommended that a maritime business development unitshould be established to determine the issues of the availability of Nigeria ship and capacity of the indigenousoperators whenever from the public cargo generators, shipping companies or other agencies.