 The Minister of State for Transport, Sen. Gwemi Solasiraki, says the role of the maritime sector is strategic in the national development of the country. The minister said this at a 2021 engineering conference, an annual general meeting put together by the Nigerian Society of Engineers Bwari Branch in Abuja. The role of the maritime sector in the overall development of the country cannot be overemphasized as the potentials are enormous for job creation and economic development. Chairman of the Nigerian Society of Engineers Bwari Branch Halimat Adediron says the maritime sector's role cannot be overemphasized. At this time, the government is thinking of diversifying the economy. She says the sector is an overlooked gold mine, with the capacity to become a key engine for economic development. President Mohammed Buhari, GCFR, declared that the maritime industry will be the fulcrum and main driver of the Nigerian economy and came up with the economy diversification strategies which the maritime sector has a ready platform to actualize. Guest speakers at the event agree that the theme has apt as it enlightens the audience on the enormous potentials in the sector. First is the Minister of State for Transport, Senator Gwemishola Sarraki, who described the sector as backbone of strategic national development. No country is entirely self-sufficient and every country relies on maritime trade to sell what it has and buy what it needs. Much of what we use and consume in our everyday lives either has been or will be transported by sea and the former raw materials components of finished articles. Maritime transport is the backbone of global trade and the global economy. Any policy that you design that you are not able to implement was badly designed anyway. So that is it. So these countries don't do this. They study things. They study their rivers. They study what the people are producing. They study what they are marketing. Why do we need transport people? And then it is these data that they now actually come up with their policies so that they are implemented. Second thing is that these countries recognize the value of knowledge capital. So their size, technology and innovation system by implication their universities, their polytechnics, their research institutes are very, very vibrant studying things that they require to know. The event marks the first anniversary of the S-Course of the Nitrogen Society of Engineers Poiré branch.