Oyetola Woos Danish Investors to Nigeria's Marine and Blue Economy Sector
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- Nigeria's Marine Minister Adegboyega Oyetola met Danish Business Minister Martin Lidegaard in Copenhagen to push for maritime investment
- Oyetola listed ports, shipbuilding, green shipping, and renewable energy among the sectors open to Danish businesses and technology providers
- The Nigerian delegation included the heads of NPA, NIMASA, and NPERA, signalling the government's priority focus on the blue economy
Nigeria's Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr. Adegboyega Oyetola, has urged Danish investors to tap into the growing range of opportunities in Nigeria's maritime sector, promising competitive incentives and a business environment that is progressively shifting towards private-sector engagement.
Oyetola made the pitch on September 10, 2026, during a bilateral meeting with Denmark's Minister for Business and Competitiveness, Martin Lidegaard, in Copenhagen. The encounter formed part of an official Nigerian ministerial delegation to Denmark focused on maritime affairs and the blue economy, which Oyetola led.
Source: Original
What Nigeria is offering danish investors
Discussions covered investment prospects, maritime infrastructure, technology, green transition, port efficiency, skills development, and sustainable economic growth. Oyetola told his Danish counterparts that Nigeria had moved past the stage of building institutional frameworks and was now focused on project development, investment mobilisation, and sector performance.
"Nigeria is looking for partnerships that can improve sector performance, attract investment, deploy technology, strengthen skills and safety, advance sustainability and create quality jobs," he said.
The minister pointed to opportunities across ports and logistics, shipbuilding and repair, maritime services, digital technology, fisheries, green shipping, renewable energy, marine infrastructure, financing, and multimodal connectivity.
He argued that Nigeria's coastline, inland waterways, large consumer market, and position within West and Central Africa give investors access to a broad maritime value chain with strong long-term commercial potential.
Oyetola also highlighted the existing footprint of Danish-linked companies in Nigeria as evidence that the market works.
"The presence of some Danish companies in Nigeria provides a strong foundation on which we can build. We want to deepen that relationship and create the conditions for more Danish businesses, investors and technology providers to participate in Nigeria's maritime transformation," he said.
He added that the Nigeria-Denmark engagement was meant to go beyond broad diplomatic statements and focus instead on identifying concrete, bankable projects with measurable economic outcomes.
For Denmark, which holds global expertise in shipping, logistics, and green ocean industries, Oyetola said Nigeria offered the scale of Africa's largest economy as a commercial partner.
Denmark's response
Lidegaard welcomed the prospect of closer ties with Nigeria's blue economy agenda. He said practical partnerships involving businesses, government institutions, technology providers, and knowledge institutions would be essential to developing solutions that could be rolled out and sustained commercially in both countries.
The Nigerian delegation included Permanent Secretary Fatima Mahmood; Senior Special Assistant to the President on Marine and Blue Economy, Professor Busayo Fakinlede; Nigerian Ports Authority Managing Director Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho; Nigerian Ports Economic Regulatory Agency Director-General Dr. Pius Akutah; and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency Director-General Dr. Dayo Mobereola, among others.
Source: Legit.ng
