Niger Deltans are expected to witness a significant transformation in the months ahead following the launch of a $250 billion blue economy investment and infrastructure programme by Free2Blue Niger Delta. The initiative is designed to promote inclusive economic growth and generate more than 2.5 million sustainable jobs across the region.
According to the organisers, the blue economy presents a practical way to turn the region’s natural resources into shared prosperity, fostering economic diversification, restoring the environment, and creating long-term opportunities for host communities.
Mr. Kabiru Idris Momodu, Regional Coordinator of Free2Blue Niger Delta, emphasized that the programme places local communities at the heart of both conservation and development efforts.
The initiative highlights the Niger Delta as one of Nigeria’s most promising yet underutilised economic frontiers. It aims to help the country move closer to its goal of building a $2 trillion economy, while also rehabilitating degraded wetlands and coastal ecosystems.
At the unveiling, Mr. Victor Wilkinson Agih, Global Director of the Free2Blue Africa Initiative, noted that the region’s vast coastline and wetlands could become powerful engines of economic renewal through strategic blue economy investments.
He explained that targeted foreign direct investment in areas such as blue economy industrial parks, coastal tourism, fisheries and aquaculture technology, marine logistics, and wetland-based clean energy could drive large-scale economic growth while restoring ecological balance.
Also speaking at the event, Senator Ireti Heebah Kingibe, Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women Affairs, described wetland protection as a national priority. The campaign was launched to coincide with World Wetlands Day, themed “Wetlands and Traditional Knowledge: Celebrating Cultural Heritage.”
Free2Blue promotes a community-led approach to mangrove restoration, creek protection, and shoreline conservation, turning environmental stewardship into meaningful livelihoods for women and young people in riverine areas.
For generations, communities in the Niger Delta have relied on wetlands for fishing, farming, trade, and preserving cultural heritage along estuaries and floodplains that protect coastlines, store carbon, and support biodiversity. However, years of environmental damage and economic marginalisation have weakened both ecosystems and livelihoods.
The initiative seeks to change this narrative by linking environmental restoration with economic opportunity making mangrove recovery, shoreline protection, and creek conservation drivers of local prosperity.
Aligned with Sustainable Development Goals 6, 8, 13, 14, and 15, the programme combines modern wetland science with traditional ecological knowledge under a simple principle: when communities lead conservation, it creates jobs.
Its implementation framework outlines clear targets, including mobilising 900,000 eco-volunteers as “Blue Stewards,” training another 900,000 Eco-Marshals as frontline defenders of wetlands, and restoring up to nine billion mangroves by 2035 across key creeks and estuaries.
The programme also aims to create 2.5 million green and blue jobs in areas such as mangrove restoration, aquaculture, eco-tourism, shoreline protection, clean energy services, waste recycling, and marine transport upgrades.
Other goals include distributing nine million clean cookstoves, providing eco-education scholarships for women and youth, supporting creek-based small businesses, and scaling up plastic waste recovery through youth-led circular economy initiatives.
At the grassroots level, Free2Blue plans to establish Eco-Citizen Zones to serve as centres for restoration, skills training, and business incubation, while strengthening partnerships between corporate and community stakeholders to improve procurement, training, and impact financing opportunities.
