Author: EJIDE.SODIPO

Ejide Sodipo is a seasoned maritime and commercial litigator with over 30 years of experience representing clients across Nigeria’s legal system, including at the Supreme Court. She has handled more than 400 cases and advised stakeholders at the highest levels of the maritime sector. Her expertise in marine insurance is rooted in hands-on work with one of the UK’s leading mutual P&I management firms. She has also represented members of the International Group of P&I Clubs, which collectively insure around 90% of the world’s oceangoing tonnage. Ejide brings a unique combination of legal rigour, international exposure, and policy insight to Nigeria’s quest for homegrown maritime insurance solutions.

The Future of P&I Insurance in Emerging Markets: The Viability of Regional Hubs Like Nigeria

A vessel may load crude in Port Harcourt, discharge containers in Mumbai, or bunker in Mombasa. Yet when a collision, oil spill, or injury claim arises, the decision on liability is often made in London. This is the quiet asymmetry of global shipping. Emerging markets now account for much of the world’s maritime activity, yet […]

Why Nigeria Needs to Become a Maritime Insurance Hub in West Africa

Nigeria is the maritime backbone of West Africa. Its coastline stretches over 850 kilometres and is home to strategically located ports including Apapa, Tin Can Island, Port Harcourt, Onne, Calabar, and Warri. Collectively, these ports handle the majority of regional maritime cargo trafﬁc. In 2022, Nigeria’s ports handled a substantial number of vessel calls, with […]

De-risking Nigerian Maritime Trade: The Case for Local P&I Insurance

In the world of global shipping, insurance isn’t just paperwork; it is infrastructure. It determines who can trade, under what conditions, and at what cost. For Nigeria, a nation whose maritime trade is vital to its economy and whose oil and gas exports define its fiscal health, the lack of a local Protection and Indemnity […]

How Can Nigeria’s Blue Economy Ministry Help Build a $1 Trillion Economy?

In 2023, the Nigerian government established the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, a long-anticipated step toward harnessing the country’s vast maritime potential. For decades, fragmented oversight had left the sector underutilised despite Nigeria’s 850-kilometre coastline, six port complexes, and positioning along key global shipping corridors. The new ministry signals a shift from passive oversight […]

The Impact of Nigeria’s Local Content Act on P&I Insurance

In 1972, the Federal Government of Nigeria issued the Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Decree, more commonly known as the Indigenisation Decree. It marked a bold shift in national economic policy: a deliberate attempt to transfer ownership and control of businesses operating in Nigeria into Nigerian hands. For the first time, foreign participation in a wide range […]

Can Nigeria Stem Its $1.5 Billion Losses to Foreign Marine Insurers?

Nigeria has lost over $1.5 billion to foreign marine insurers in just three years. That’s not a projection. It is an official figure from a March 2025 statement by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), pointing to the scale of outflows from shipping risks placed entirely abroad. Marine insurance covers a broad risk […]

The Ship of Nigeria’s Nascent Blue Economy Weighs its Anchor

The Depth of the unexplored is always a subject that piques the interest of mortal man. In Nigeria, the Blue Economy is as deep and vast as the ocean depths. And like the ocean, it is calm, untouched, unexplored, underutilised. It’s an economic ecosystem in itself that lies forlorn begging to be explored. However, the […]