The 2026 Maritime Writes Project (MWP) Creative Writing Bootcamp moved beyond lecture halls this month, immersing participants in hands-on encounters with Nigeria’s maritime industry through a mix of masterclasses, legal deep-dives, and conversations with seasoned professionals from shipping, security and the ports sector.
Now in its sixth year, the MWP Creative Writing Bootcamp opened on August 12, 2026, at the Lagos Port Complex in Apapa, under the theme “Voyages Through Chokepoints: Power, Passage and Lives at Sea.” Convener and Project Coordinator Ezinne Azunna said the 2026 edition would explore the complexities of global maritime routes, strategic chokepoints and trade corridors, placing the human experiences behind ocean transportation at the centre of the storytelling process.
Fifty participants were selected for the programme after submitting original short stories of between 4,000 and 5,000 words, each built around a voyage to or from a Nigerian port through a global maritime chokepoint or major sea trade route. The bootcamp runs across two categories, Maritime Writes Junior, for children aged 6 to 13, and Maritime Writes Senior, for participants aged 14 to 60.
Among the most memorable sessions was a live interview with Capt. Warredi Enisuoh, Executive Director of Operations and Technical at Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, conducted by Azunna in front of participants. Enisuoh urged Nigerian youths to stop waiting for jobs and instead create solutions that generate businesses, employment and economic value, drawing on his own path from aspiring pilot to ship captain, aviation professional and maritime security executive.
Enisuoh recalled that his childhood fascination with James Bond films first drew him toward flying and adventure, but financial constraints steered him instead toward maritime studies at the then Nautical College of Nigeria, now the Maritime Academy of Nigeria. He described how a chance discovery of a flight school in a telephone directory, followed by years of persistence and letters seeking financial support, eventually allowed him to pursue both maritime and aviation training simultaneously, attending classes in the morning and flight lessons in the evening.
He urged the young writers in the room to see one another as collaborators rather than competitors, arguing that while individual Africans are highly capable, the continent underperforms collectively because people fail to combine their strengths. He cited Tantita’s Command and Control platform, which monitors pipeline assets and Nigeria’s maritime domain, as an example of how technology can be applied to tackle complex national challenges, and encouraged participants to apply the same problem-solving mindset to sectors such as agriculture and security.
On what organisers described as Day Three, Dr. Emeka Akabogu, SAN, Senior Partner at Akabogu & Associates, walked participants through eight landmark Nigerian maritime court cases in a session titled “Real Cases Every Maritime Writer Should Know.” Akabogu simplified complex judicial decisions touching on shipping, ports, maritime jurisdiction, cargo claims and environmental protection, urging the young writers to deepen their understanding of the industry’s legal foundations in order to produce credible and authoritative maritime literature. He argued that a firmer grasp of landmark rulings would help participants interpret real-world maritime events accurately and avoid factual errors in their creative work.
At the bootcamp’s opening at the Multi-Purpose Hall, Apapa Port, Lagos, the Nigerian Ports Authority’s Lagos Ports Complex Manager, Mr. Debo Lawal, who served as Special Guest of Honour, urged participants to use their writing to highlight the growing participation of women in traditionally male-dominated maritime roles. He noted that more than 10 female crane operators now work at Lagos port, alongside female tugboat pilots and numerous other women employed across the port complex, framing the maritime and port sector as an industry increasingly embracing inclusion.
Beyond the headline speakers, the bootcamp’s faculty included Prof. Adegbite Tobalase, Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Adeleke University and Head of Faculty for the Maritime Writes Project; Mrs. Nneka Obianyor, Director of Reforms Coordination and Blue Economy and former Registrar of Ships at NIMASA; Capt. Marvin Omovbude, Harbour Master of the Lagos Pilotage District; and veteran journalist Mr. Oji Onoko, former Deputy Editor of ThisDay newspaper. Also featured were Dr. Akanbi Williams of the International Ocean Institute-Nigeria, maritime linguist Madam Ifeoma Nwagbogu, Director-General of the Nigerian Chamber of Shipping Madam Vivian Chimezie-Azubuike, and Capt. Oluwasegun Akanbi, Master Mariner and President of MAPROD.
A major highlight of the programme was a guided tour of the Nigerian Navy’s Naval Dockyard in Victoria Island, Lagos, giving participants first-hand exposure to one of the country’s key naval and maritime facilities. The visit built on a tradition established in previous editions of the bootcamp, which have similarly taken participants to naval and shipping facilities to ground their creative work in real industry experience.
Azunna said successful participants would receive certificates of completion, while ten outstanding stories would be selected for publication in the Maritime Writes Anthology, giving emerging writers an opportunity to reach a wider audience while contributing to the development of Nigeria’s maritime literary culture.
The bootcamp’s blend of legal education, industry mentorship, and site visits reflects organisers’ broader ambition: using creative writing not just as an artistic exercise, but as a tool for deepening public understanding of Nigeria’s maritime sector and nurturing a new generation of writers equipped to tell its stories accurately and compellingly.
