Digitalisation ‘great equaliser’ for women in maritime

The Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dayo Mobereola, has described digitalisation as the “great equaliser” capable of breaking long-standing barriers limiting women’s participation in the maritime industry.

Mobereola spoke in Lagos at the opening of a three-day regional symposium on “Digitalisation and the Empowerment of Women in the Maritime Sector of West Africa: Opportunities, Challenges and Pathways,” where stakeholders from across the Gulf of Guinea gathered to explore how digital technologies can expand women’s participation in the maritime economy.

The event, which also resonates with the theme of the International Women’s Day with the theme “Give to Gain”, was hosted by NIMASA in collaboration with the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and the Inter-Regional Coordination Centre (ICC).

It brought together senior government officials, maritime regulators, security experts, academics, technology specialists and women maritime professionals to examine strategies for closing gender gaps in the region’s maritime sector.

Delivering the welcome address, Mobereola who was represented by the agency’s Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Chudi Offodile, described women’s underrepresentation not as a diversity footnote, but as a material threat to the region’s maritime competitiveness.

“The Blue Economy is a frontier of limitless potential and that is why we are not merely seeking ‘representation’ for women as a matter of social justice but pursuing sectoral transformation as a matter of economic survival,” Mobereola declared.

His remarks came against a backdrop of sweeping digital disruption reshaping every layer of the global maritime industry – from vessel operations and port logistics to cargo tracking systems and regulatory service delivery. Mobereola acknowledged that while digitalisation is unlocking new productivity frontiers, it is simultaneously exposing the sector’s persistent gender blind spots.

“Across West Africa, women remain significantly underrepresented in many areas of maritime operations. These disparities are not merely statistics; they represent untapped talent, unrealised potential, and lost opportunities for inclusive growth which we must find ways to close out,” he said.

He said digital technology has the power to dismantle the barriers that have kept women at the margins of maritime commerce and governance. He pointed specifically to artificial intelligence-driven simulations and e-learning platforms as tools that can democratise access to world-class maritime training.

“Today, a young woman in a rural West African town can now access the same training modules as anyone in any part of the more advanced world,” Mobereola noted, underscoring digitalisation’s capacity to close the educational and professional gap between underserved communities and global maritime centres.

The NIMASA Director-General pledged that the agency would ensure that the local maritime domain and the broader West African sub-region becomes “a global benchmark for gender-inclusive digital excellence.”

He urged delegates to use the three-day forum to move decisively “beyond rhetoric and focus on building the pathways that will enable the daughters of West Africa to lead us into the next maritime frontier.”

Delivering the opening remarks on behalf of KAIPTC Commandant, AVM David Akrong, Deputy Commandant Brig Gen Zibrim Bawah Ayorrogo situated women’s digital empowerment within the security and governance realities of the Gulf of Guinea, one of the world’s most strategically sensitive maritime corridors.

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“The Gulf of Guinea is a maritime domain of immense strategic importance, rich in resources, and a hub for international trade. However, it also faces complex security challenges including piracy, illegal fishing, and trafficking,” Akrong told delegates.

He argued that digital transformation offers a concrete opportunity to sharpen maritime domain awareness, improve multi-agency coordination, and strengthen response capabilities across the region — but only if women are structurally embedded within that ecosystem.

“It is imperative that women are not only included but empowered to lead and innovate within this evolving digital ecosystem, ensuring that technology serves as a tool for inclusive growth and security,” he said.

He noted that since 2021, the Centre has elevated women’s issues to a dedicated departmental mandate, integrating gender perspectives across its peace and security programming. He pointed to the uneven access to digital infrastructure, persistent gender gaps in STEM education, and the emerging threat of cyberattacks and digital misinformation as challenges demanding coordinated action from governments, industry, academia, and civil society.

“Addressing these challenges demands concerted efforts from governments, industry, academia, and civil society to create enabling environments where women can thrive as digital leaders and innovators in maritime security,” he stressed, adding that KAIPTC’s training programmes increasingly emphasise the intersection of technology, security, and gender inclusion.

Akrong also said technology companies, maritime operators, and financial institutions carry a responsibility to invest actively in women-led digital innovations. He advocated for robust public-private partnerships capable of accelerating cutting-edge technology deployment in ways that remain accessible and directly relevant to women’s aspirations within the sector.

“Empowering women through digital transformation is not only a matter of equity but a strategic imperative for maritime security and sustainable development. KAIPTC stands ready to support these efforts and looks forward to fruitful collaborations that will strengthen the resilience and prosperity of the Gulf of Guinea.” He concluded.

The Director of the Department of Applied Research and Innovation in Peace and Security (DARIPS) at Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, Dr. Emma Birikorang, said the programme reflects the centre’s expanded focus on technology, peace, and security in West Africa.

She explained that the symposium falls under the institution’s Technology and Security Programme, which focuses on emerging issues including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, social media dynamics, and maritime security governance.

According to her, the forum provides a platform for diverse stakeholders to exchange ideas and develop new perspectives for strengthening gender inclusion and digital transformation in the maritime industry.

“With the diversity of women in the room, your experiences, as well as the areas that you are coming from, we have no doubt that the conversations in the next few days will be rich, will be diverse, will challenge us,” she said.

The symposium’s three-day agenda is structured to build progressively toward concrete outputs. Day one focuses on the current landscape of women’s participation and digital barriers in West African maritime operations. Day two examines digital tools, policy frameworks, and the roles of the private sector and NGOs in driving inclusion. Day three is dedicated to collaborative action planning and the formulation of a strategic roadmap.

The forum is expected to generate several tangible deliverables: targeted policy recommendations, practical programmatic frameworks tailored to the West African maritime context, strengthened multi-stakeholder partnerships, and a strategic roadmap charting clear pathways for digital empowerment, leadership development, and workforce diversification.

The symposium forms part of a wider series of engagements designed to establish a platform for sustained dialogue among international and regional actors on maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea – a recognition that the region’s maritime future cannot be secured without the full, active participation of its women.

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