The Nigerian Navy high command is set to join the United Nations in celebrating this year’s World Hydrography Day.
The navy also reiterated its commitment to providing policy makers with valuable insights For sustainable management of the nation’s waterways.
Addressing newsmen on behalf of the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, Naval Chief of policy and plans Rear Admiral Saidu Garba, noted that this year’s event aims at sensitising Nigerians on the importance of World Hydrography day.
According to him, the importance of Hydrography in the sustenance of the marine sector cannot be over emphasized hence the need to tap into the theme of this year’s celebration Hydrography underpinning the digital twin of the Ocean for improved knowledge of the sector to provide the needed information for sustainable ocean management and development.
“The objective of this Briefing is to highlight the activities lined up for the celebration of the 2023 World Hydrography Day in Nigeria.
“As you are all aware, Hydrography is simply the science that measures and describes the physical features of the earth’s water bodies and adjoining coastal areas. You will recall that last year’s World Hydrography Day focused on the contributions of hydrography to the United Nations Decade of the Ocean.
“During the plenary session of the 2022 events, we discussed extensively on how the science of hydrography could be used to find solution to the falling health of the world’s ocean, particularly Nigeria’s part of the world’s Ocean. As a follow-up to this conversation, the 2023 World Hydrography Day will focus on one of the applications of hydrographic datasets towards sustainable management and use of the ocean. This is aptly captured in the theme for the Day, which is “Hydrography – Underpinning the Digital Twin of the Ocean”.
He added: “Digital Twin of the Ocean is a near real-time and future digital representation of the physical, chemical, biological, and socio-economical dimensions of the ocean, to facilitate well-informed decisions for effective ocean governance. As you already know, the ocean is everything to us.
“It sustains life, provides food, energy, recreation and jobs for us. Unfortunately, overexploitation, loss of biodiversity and habitats, pollution, marine littering, and climate change issues, among others, are threatening the sustainable development of the ocean.
“It is increasingly becoming difficult for policy makers to guarantee the use of ocean resources in a way that meets the needs of the present generation, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Hence, by producing the digital twin of the ocean, multiple stakeholders, including government agencies, fishing communities, environmentalists, and corporate organizations among others, who have competing interests and goals within the ocean, can be aware of the importance of sustainable ocean development and, consequently, take appropriate actions.
“Through digital twins, policy makers obtain valuable insights into the current state and future projections of ocean ecosystems and the human activities that impact them. This information helps policy makers to evolve a more equitable and sustainable ocean management strategies that support the coexistence of multiple stakeholders in the same ocean space, thereby facilitating healthy communication and collaboration that promotes sustainable use of the ocean resources.
“It is a common knowledge that marine litters, indiscriminate marine resource exploitation, and inadequate ocean management tools are threatening sustainable use of the ocean in Nigeria. Therefore, developing the digital twin of Nigeria’s waters in particular, and the entire Gulf of Guinea in general will provide the needed interface between the policy makers, coastal communities, maritime security agencies, researchers, marine exploration and exploitation companies, as well as other maritime users that will foster the right action for sustainable ocean governance and uses in Nigeria.
“Development of Digital Twin of the Ocean requires the integration of a wide range of real-time and historic data sources like ocean observatory data, static data from geology and human activities, as well as hydrographic datasets.
“Currently, there are several historic and real-time datasets domiciled in many Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Nigerian Governments, as well as private oil companies, that could be integrated into the digital twin of the ocean for Nigeria.
“In the NN, for instance, there exist several marine geospatial data acquired over time during many hydrographic survey campaigns executed by the NN. Data such as tides and tidal streams currents, bathymetry, nature of seabed, temperature, conductivity and salinity of water bodies among other were acquired during the survey of Nigeria’s offshore, coastal and inland waters for which navigational charts and other products have either been produced or at the process of being produced.
“By the statutory responsibilities of the Nigerian Ports Authority, National Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research, National Boundary Commission, NiMet, NIMASA, among others, they acquire important datasets that could be integrated to develop a Digital Twin of the Ocean in Nigeria. However, these data are either lying idle at various agencies or lost all together.
“Therefore, conversations during the 2023 World Hydrography Day celebration in Nigeria is intended to awaken our collective consciousness towards pooling marine datasets together to develop an infrastructure that will serve the collective good of all stakeholders for sustainable ocean development in Nigeria.
“In this regard, this media briefing formally flags off the 2023 World Hydrography Day celebration in Nigeria. Throughout this week, precisely from today, 14 to 20 June 2023, awareness lectures on hydrography, with emphases on how to develop the Digital Twin of Ocean for Nigeria, will be delivered to selected secondary schools in Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Kano.
“The awareness lectures are aimed at arousing the interests of young minds to consider picking up career in hydrography, so we can have enough human capacity, to provide quality hydrographic service delivery to Nigeria’s policy makers and mariners alike. On 21 June 2023, there will be a plenary session, where all stakeholders and government officials would interact in a one-day seminar to deliberate on how best to use abundant historic and future marine datasets domiciled in various offices to develop a Digital Twin of Nigeria’s waters for improve and sustainable national development.”
The hydrographer of the Federation and the Nigerian Navy Rear Admiral Chukwuemeka Okafor said works are ongoing to chart Nigeria’s waters to open up rivers, creeks and waterways to provide adequate maritime security as well as boost economic activities around these areas.