ARTICLE A study of the cabotage policy in Nigeria from the prisms of ship acquisition and shipbuilding Kalu Kingsley Anele 1 Received: 14 February 2017 /Accepted: 13 November 2017 # World Maritime University 2017 Abstract It is trite that shipping is pivotal to the economic development of Nigeria. Aside from significantly contributing to the country’ s revenue, shipping is an indispens- able aspect of the oil and gas sector, the bastion of Nigeria’ s economic, sociopolitical, and infrastructural development. Thus, active participation of Nigerians in the shipping subsector, as well as other sectors, is unassailable and imperative, culminating in the introduction of cabotage in Nigeria. The kernel of this paper is to critically analyse the cabotage regime in Nigeria from the lenses of ship acquisition and shipbuilding with a view to enhancing indigenous participation in coastal and inland waterway transport in the country. The author argues that inadequate funding and absence of investment are central in hampering ship acquisition and the development of shipbuilding capability, thereby undermining cabotage in Nigeria. This paper further asserts that the extant cabotage legal regime in Nigeria is fundamentally flawed due to the existence of waivers without safeguards to protect indigenous ship operators. Moreover, the waiver regime does not encourage technology transfer. The paper concludes by reiterating that ade- quate funds and investments in human and shipping infrastructural development and the amendment of the Cabotage Act to reflect the removal of surcharges and the inclusion of transfer of technology and other safeguards to the waivers are imperative in ensuring a proper and effective cabotage regime in Nigeria. Keywords Cabotage Act 2003 . Shipbuilding . Ship acquisition . NIMASA . Indigenous ship operators . Shipping . CVFF . Waiver . Petroleum sector 1 Introduction Statistically, “Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa with US$478 billion and is one of the fastest growing economies in the world with a long-term average growth of WMU J Marit Affairs https://doi.org/10.1007/s13437-017-0131-2 * Kalu Kingsley Anele kkanele@gmail.com 1 Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of Lagos Campus, Lagos, Nigeria