MARITIME SECTOR: KEY DRIVER OF ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Nigeria’s Maritime sector is a neglected gold mine. It is capable of becoming a key engine of economic growth and sustainable development, if enhancive strategies are implemented for optimum efficiency. Nigeria’s maritime sector performance for 2019, like the global maritime business in the evidently points to the negative. However, factors that led the local maritime downward are different from factors that negatively affected global maritime sector. This paper will assess the technologies advancement; automation and digitalisation of Nigeria maritime sector to ensure it attain global best practices recommended by International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Currently, technological advancement is bringing its transformative advantages to the maritime ports and shipping space. In the industry known for complex issues, large scale, and a need for firm reliability, digital technologies that create new opportunities for better optimization, automation, and profitability. The study will also analyse maritime performance indicators which includes performance measurement, direct shipping connectivity, port improved management and environmental factor. Performance indicators are systematic tools that determine nature and critical issues that confront shipping industry and ports, help evaluate the possible impact of another policy decision. The challenges, prospects and sustainability of maritime sector in Nigeria over the years will be properly reviewed. The maritime future poses numerous challenges, but also erupt numerous opportunities. Global trade is expanding, Ports and shipping as its workhorse are undergoing transformation and facing massive challenges in maintaining competitiveness. Theories, analyses supporting statistical data, and related information from other relevant institutions and agencies, served as the framework of the study. The result of the study is expected to contribute in economic growth and sustainable development of the maritime sector. JEL: R40; R42; L20 Article visualizations

Portable Fog Gateways for Resilient Sensors Data Aggregation in Internet-less Environment

Fog computing is gaining attention due to the potential of aggregating and processing time-sensitive data at the nearby intelligent gateways. It reduces the latency of sensors data aggregation and response time therefore, improve real-time action which is beneficial in environmental monitoring and early warning systems. However, deploying edge computing in Internet-less environment seems unpractical and the mobility of gateways is less focused in current literature. In this paper, we present a practical design of a portable gateways scheme for sensors data aggregation and processing in Internet-less environment. The proposed gateways can locate their geographical locations which can be automatically converted into location names at the central gateway. The proposed portable Fog Gateways are developed by using open-source hardware and integrated with Cloud database for data storage. Data processing techniques such as data parsing and Reverse Geocoding are conducted for reliable data transmission by using GSM/GPRS technology and geographical location name detection respectively. Finally, a case study has been conducted to evaluate the feasibility of our proposed Fog Gateways scheme in real-time application