ABSTRACT
Maritime transportation operations and services consist of three types of activities: (a) international maritime transport (b) maritime auxiliary services (c) port services. These services and operations require one form of regulation or the other. Overall, these regulations and practices can be classified under two broad headings: (i) regulations related to commercial maritime operations and practices (ii) regulations related to safety and the environment. The regulation of maritime transportation in Nigeria is carried out by certain institutions and agencies acting under and with a large spectrum of laws, rules and regulations most of which are in furtherance of their obligations under international regulatory legal regime. The legal regime (rules or regulations) provide the basis and tools with which the institutions perform their regulatory functions. The incidence, activities and functions of these institutions and the legal rules and regulations with which they perform their mandate constitute the legal and institutional framework for the regulation of maritime transportation under Nigerian maritime law. The objective of the research is to analyze the regulatory maritime law regime in Nigeria and the institutional framework under which the regulatory regime operates to evaluate the adequacy of Nigerian maritime regulatory law regime with regardto: regulations related to commercial operations, regulations related to safety and the maritime environment. The research methodology adopted is the doctrinal method of research, which relied principally on international conventions, statutes, subsidiary legislation, articles and journals. The research found that for commercial maritime operations and services, the rules and regulations in Nigeria are not competitive and are unsustainable in modern global shipping environment. With regard to safety and the environment, the research found that maritime casualties are caused primarily by human error as a result of relaxed enforcement of rules and monitoring and in some cases, non- compliance with the rules and regulations. With respect to the institutional framework, the research found that the size and service delivery capacity of the Nigeria flag and port state is not sustainable.Based on these findings, the research recommended that for the regulation of commercial maritime operations and services to be more effective, section 18 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 2007 should be amended to introduce a hybrid shipping registry and an international register for the purpose of increasing the revenue base of Nigeria and saving the ship registry from further dwindling. For safety and the environment regulation, the human error problem can be addressed by implementing a globally standardized maritime education and training programme, coupled with an up-to-date ratification, compliance and strict enforcement of international safety regulation in Nigeria. Furthermore, the size of the administration of the Nigeria flag state can be enlarged to effectively cater for ship registration (to significantly increase the nation's merchant fleet), properly administer maritime education and training and ensure the welfare of seafarers, while servicing the interests of international clientele.