Tui Nayau calls for equal investment in Fiji's maritime islands

Turaga na Tui Nayau, Ratu Tevita Mara, has called for greater Government investment in Fiji's maritime provinces, saying island communities have been left behind despite contributing significantly to the nation's economy.

Speaking after returning from a five-day visit to Australia, Ratu Tevita said he welcomed the 2026-2027 Budget's investment in roads, airports, water, sanitation and energy in Vanua Levu and Taveuni, but questioned why maritime provinces had no comparable programme.

"I welcome every road built in Vanua Levu and Taveuni, and I support them fully. What I ask for is fairness."

He said many islands in Lau still lacked basic infrastructure such as jetties.

"There are islands in my province where a mother carrying a baby must be handed out of a small boat into the swell, because there is nowhere to land. Nayau. Moce. Kabara. Ono-i-Lau. Fulaga. I could name more. We are not asking for anything grand. We are asking for somewhere to put our feet down."

Ratu Tevita stressed his appeal was not at the expense of other provinces.

"And let no one hear this as one province speaking against another. Lau wants nothing that belongs to Vanua Levu, or to Kadavu, or Rotuma, or the villages in the highlands of Viti Levu, or the settlements of the cane belt."

"Their case is ours. This country is not a small table with too many hands reaching for it. We are one people - iTaukei, Indo-Fijian, Rotuman, and everyone else who calls these islands home - and a nation is measured by how it treats those who live furthest from its capital."

He rejected claims that investing in maritime islands did not provide economic returns.

"I am told sometimes that money spent in Lau does not return."

Ratu Tevita said Lau had long contributed to Fiji through agriculture, its workforce and overseas remittances.

"First Lau paid in copra. Since then, it has paid in people. And a jetty is not a gift. It is what lets the copra, the fish and the masi reach a market at all. Ask whether it pays after it is built, not before."

He said migration from the islands also carried hidden social costs.

"A family that gives up and leaves does not disappear, but arrives in a settlement on the edge of Suva - a cost that never appears in the ledger."

Ratu Tevita said the newly established Lau Economic Think Tank Group was developing proposals for the coconut industry, fisheries, tourism, the One Island One Product initiative, shipping and wharf infrastructure.

"We are not coming to Suva with our hands out. We will bring proposals a bank can read and a ministry can act on, and we will ask our own people abroad to invest alongside Government."

He said he would also present the proposals to the Bose Levu Vakaturaga and looked forward to working with Government and other provinces to advance development in Fiji's maritime islands.