INTRODUCTION
The maritime sector in Nigeria comprises of ports, shipping, dockyards, Inland Water Transport (IWT) and all marine related activities. It caters for the bulk of Nigeria’s trade and investment through import and exchange of commodities which is critical for the economic development of the country. It also influences the pace, structure and pattern of development.
Recently, there has been a surge of concern about maritime safety and security, with particular focus on the danger that insecurity of the seas poses to Nigerian commerce and the country’s peace and stability. The quest for peaceful trade and movement over the water ways, adequate security, stability and development in the Nigerian maritime sector is of paramount importance. Up until 2009, members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, were a torn in the flesh of the government as they repeatedly blew up oil installations located in the Niger Delta. Their activities were brought to an end after the Government of President Yaradua instituted the Amnesty program, but in 2016, a resurgence of these militant activities has been observed with the activities of Niger Delta Avengers threatening to grind economic activities of the Nigerian state to a halt. The contributions of globalization to the spread of weapons of mass destruction are alarming. Advancing technology coupled with the global spread of ideas and technologies has made it easier for states and even groups with resources to access critical knowledge, materials and technologies, pursue the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction: biological, chemical or nuclear (Obahighbon, 2010). ICT, Globalization and Maritime Piracy in Contemporary Africa. The resurgence of maritime piracy in contemporary Africa constitutes another major security challenge to the continent’s security. Maritime piracy has no doubt inflicted very profound economic, political, social and strategic consequences on the continent and it peoples that it threatens the entire fabric and ramifications of the continent’s security architecture. The bewildering increase in the number of the incidences of maritime piracy is unquantifiable as the damage done to the continent’s peace, stability, prosperity, development, environmental, investment, revenue, humanitarian, commercial, energy, and food security terms is colossal (Uadiale and Yonmo, 2010a). Accelerated globalization, which as a consequence has intensified and increased global commerce, as well as the Africa’s states’ failure to fulfill its quintessential traditional role and function of security provisions has impacted negatively upon maritime security, and consequently, resulting in the midwife of the phenomenon, of maritime piracy.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Maritime transport which is also called water borne transport is one of the modes of transportation of goods and /or persons, which has for centuries been the main prerequisite for trade transactions between nations and regions, and has without doubt, played an important role in creating economic development and prosperity(Igbokwe, 2001). The maritime industry occupies a very prominent position in the economies of nations all over the world. The industry in its strict sense embraces all business activities which take place within the maritime environment. These includes offshore economic activities such as fishing, salvage, towage, underwater resource exploitation/extraction, and onshore economic activities in ports, shipping activities, ship construction, repair and maintenance. Of all these, shipping stands out as the greatest boost to a nation’s economic growth and international status. This is because all other maritime activities revolve around shipping. The oil and gas sector, for instance depends on shipping, as it is the vehicle that drives it, enabling it to make all the difference in an economy. Due to the close link between shipping activities and economic development, most nations cannot afford to toy with the industry. It is in view of this that the researcher decide to investigate the use of ICT in maritime industry.
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The main objective of this study is to ascertain the effect of the use of ICT in the maritime industry in Nigeria. But for the successful completion of the study, the researcher put forward the following sub-objectives;
i) To identify the architecture of the ICT used in d maritime industry
ii) To highlight the areas of maritime industry in which ICT has been deployed
iii) To examine the impact of ICT by comparing the pre-ICT and post-ICT period.
iv) To do cost benefit analysis of the introduction and use of ICT in the industry
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
Research design is the plan and structure of investigation which is conceived to ensure that relevant answers to research questions are obtained, Killing (1982).
It is the structuring of investigation aimed at the identifying variables and their relationship to one another. Thus, it provides the research with the necessary framework or blue print for tacking the research problem.
The survey design is a strategy for gathering information about the beliefs opinions, and behavior of various kinds of publics of various survey types available, mail-back, telephone interview and interview survey. We chose the last because of us relative strength.
TYPE OF DATA REQUIRED
The type of data required in this study is the primary data. These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study. This data was collected from the Nigerian port authority Apapa wharf Lagos state Nigeria. This data will be collected with the use of questionnaire and personal interview.
3.1 Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS
The data collected was not an end in itself but it served as a means to an end. The end being the use of the required data to understand the various situations it is with a view to making valuable recommendations and contributions. To this end, the data collected has to be analysis for any meaningful interpretation to come out with some results. It is for this reason that the following methods were adopted in the research project for the analysis of the data collected. For a comprehensive analysis of data collected, emphasis were laid on the use of absolute numbers frequencies of responses and percentages. Answers to the research questions were provided through the comparison of the percentage of workers response to each statement in the questionnaire related to any specified question being considered. Frequency in this study refers to the arrangement of responses in order of magnitude or occurrence while percentage refers to the arrangements of the responses in order of their proportion.
The simple percentage method is believed to be straight forward easy to interpret and understand method . The researcher therefore choose the simple percentage as the method to use. The formula for percentage is shown as.
% = f/N x 100/1
Where f = frequency of respondents response
N = Total Number of response of the sample
100 = Consistency in the percentage of respondents for each item contained in questions.
STUDY AREA
Lagos is a city in the Nigerian state of Lagos. The city, with its adjoining conurbation, is the largest in Nigeria, as well as on the African continent. It is one of the fastest growing in the world, and also one of the most populous urban agglomerations. Lagos is a major financial centre in Africa; the megacity has the highest GDP, and also houses one of the largest and busiest ports on the continent. Lagos initially emerged as a port city which originated on a collection of islands, which are contained in the present day Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Lagos Island, Eti-Osa, Amuwo-Odofin and Apapa; the islands are separated by creeks, fringing the southwest mouth of Lagos Lagoon, while protected from the Atlantic Ocean by barrier islands and long sand spits such as Bar Beach, which stretch up to 100 km (60 mi) east and west of the mouth. Due to rapid urbanization, the city expanded to the west of the lagoon to include areas in the present day Lagos Mainland, Ajeromi-Ifelodun and Surulere. This led to the classification of Lagos into two main areas – the Island, which was the initial city of Lagos, before it expanded into the area known as the Mainland. This city area was governed directly by the Federal Government through the Lagos City Council, until the creation of Lagos State in 1967, which led to the splitting of Lagos city into the present day seven Local Government Areas (LGAs), and an addition of other towns (which now make up 13 LGAs) from the then Western Region, to form the state.
PROPOSAL ON THE USE OF ICT IN MARITIME INDUSTRY
