Ocean Governance and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Nigeria: The Missing Links to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The oceans and seas are the source of life on earth and are, therefore, a crucial factor in determining global climate change, global economy, and hence international relations. For these reasons, ocean governance must necessarily become part and parcel of the strategies for achieving the objectives sought in the millennium declaration of September 2000 and the new sustainable development project. This paper highlights the essence of the law of the sea, and hence, ocean governance and the role it could have played in achieving the objectives sought in millennium development goals (MDGs) in Nigeria as well as the prospects for transiting to the current sustainable development agenda. The paper, thus, equates ocean governance by means of the evolution of the law of the sea, which has progressively developed from two major principles to attend a climax with the 1982 Convention on the law of the sea, otherwise, known as United Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III) UNCLOS III. The main thrust of the paper is the opportunities provided by the law of the sea, and hence, ocean governance have provided impetus that can serve Nigeria as some of the most effective strategies for achieving Sustainable development goals having missed maximisation in respect to the MDGs.