The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Bashir Jamoh, has solicited the cooperation of the high command of the Nigerian Navy and the Police in the “water war”.
This is part of his efforts to make the Nigerian maritime domain uncomfortable for crimes to thrive, and bolstered by the recent commendation by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
Jamoh, who conveyed the message personally to the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibot-Eket Ibas, and the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, in their respective offices at Abuja, expressed his appreciation to the two important agencies for their support in bringing sanity to the maritime environment including the Gulf of Guinea.
He further intimated them with the international recognition of the various measures Nigeria is implementing to ensure that the waters are safe for the stakeholders to invest in diverse ventures considering the nation’s Deep Blue Project.
The management of NIMASA requires the synergy from the two powerful agencies in ensuring that the Suppression of Piracy and other Maritime Offences (SPOMO) Act, which was signed into law last year by President Muhammadu Buhari is diligently enforced to justify the essence of enacting the Act.
It will be recalled that the Secretary General of IMO, Mr Kitach Lim, had recently written to the DG, NIMASA, Dr Bashir Jamoh, to congratulate him on the efforts being made to rid the maritime industry of pirates.
“I would also like to reiterate my congratulations to the Nigerian Navy on the successful capture and arrest of pirates from the fishing trawler Hailufeng II, and more recently on the rescue of the crewmembers of the containership Tommi Ritscher,” Lim stated in the letter.
“Those actions, together with all the other initiatives you highlighted in our meeting, including progress with the Deep Blue Project, send a strong and valuable message to the international community with respect to the considerable efforts your Government is making to curb piracy and armed robbery against ships in the Gulf of Guinea,” he emphasised.
Jamoh has expressed his observation that: “Piracy is taking an international dimension. We now know that pirates and other maritime criminals in our waters and the Gulf of Guinea operate with strong backing from powerful international collaborators.
“So we earnestly desire the cooperation of the international community, individual countries, organisations, and individuals to stem the ugly tide of insecurity in our waters.
“We will continue to do our best and update IMO as we make progress with our strategies.”
NIMASA had recently improved its collaboration with the Navy and other stakeholders in an effort to change the ugly narrative of piracy and sea robbery in its maritime domain and the Gulf of Guinea.
The new collaborative arrangement involves information sharing between NIMASA’s Command, Control, Communication, Computers, and Intelligence Centre (C4i Centre} of the Deep Blue Project, which commenced operations on a 24 hour basis since last year, and the Nigerian Navy’s Falcon Eye to help track and combat criminal elements in the country’s maritime domain.
The Deep Blue Project, also known as the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure, aims to comprehensively tackle insecurity on Nigeria’s territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zone, up to the Gulf of Guinea.
On the back of the new partnership between NIMASA and the Navy, the country has made record arrests of pirates, with some already facing prosecution.
The Nigerian Navy recently arrested a vessel, MFV Marine 707, which was engaged in illegal fishing in the country’s waters. Ten pirates who had on May 15 attacked and boarded a Chinese vessel, MV HAILUFANG II, off the coast of Côte d’Ivoire and directed it towards Nigerian waters, were also arrested by the Navy.