• Home
  • Anti-Corruption
  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
  • National
    • Government
  • Security
  • Features
  • State
  • Event
Sign in
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Password recovery
Recover your password
Search
  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
PRNIGERIA PRNigeria News
PRNIGERIA PRNIGERIA
  • Home
  • Anti-Corruption
    • EFCC

      EFCC Arrests NCAA’s Account Director, Two Others Over 2bn ‘Duty Tour…

      PHOTOS: ICPC Operatives Attacked as Young Vote Buyers Nabbed

      Efcc operatives attacked by political thugs

      Vote Buying: Political Thugs Attack EFCC Operatives

      EFCC Arraigns Professor, Indian over N1.4bn Fraud, $200,000 Thefts

      Chairman EFCC Abdulrasheed Bawa

      EFCC Under Bawa Nightmare of Corrupt Public Officers, Fraudsters – CSOs

  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
    • Minister Unveils Nigerian Navy’s Navigational Charts for Inland Waterways Development

      Passport: NIMC Urged to Justify N1,000 Fee for NIN Verification

      DG NEMA, Mustapha Habib Ahmed

      Incessant Fire Outbreaks: NEMA Boss Laments, Calls for Nationwide Awareness

      Finally, CBN, Commercial Banks Declare Old Naira Notes Legal

      Tinubu Elumelu in Video

      That Tinubu-Elumelu Video and the PR Stunt!

  • National
    • Guber Elections: How APC, PDP, NNPP Captured 20 States… Rivers, Kaduna,…

      Map of Nigeria

      2023 Governorship Election: Live Updates from INEC IReV Results in 28…

      CISLAC boss, Musa Rafsanjani

      TMG to INEC: Redeem your image by conducting credible March 18…

      NASS Speakership: GGTI Roots for Sada Soli

      How Gov’t Can Address High Inflation Rate – ACCI

    • Government
      • Guber Elections: How APC, PDP, NNPP Captured 20 States… Rivers, Kaduna,…

        2023 Polls: BPSR, UNILAG sign MoU to Train Elected Governors

        Youth Minister Inaugurates Committee on NYSC @50 Anniversary Celebration

        NYSC Threatens Legal Action Against Persons ‘Abusing’ Corpers’ Uniform

        In Three Months, Fire Destroys Property Worth N23.3bn

  • Security
    • NDLEA Seizes 1.2m Pills of Tramadol, Intercepts Intercepts Heroin Consignment

      CDS Gen Lucky Irabor

      DHQ Reacts as Embattled Reps’ Leader, Military Troops Appear in AK-47…

      police

      Gubernatorial-Assembly Elections: Police Commands Assure Citizens of Adequate Security in States

      Commodore SA Lawal Military Pension Boss MPB

      Debarment Allowance: Pension Board Requests Documents to Pay Military Retirees, NoKs’

      Inmates

      Drug Abuse Campaign: NDLEA Sensitizes Inmates in Ogun Juvenile Prison

  • Features
    • Jaigbade Alao: A Garland of Music and- A Tribute

      PRNigeria Fact-Check Reveals Identity of Abia Assembly’s Member-Elect, Anthony Abiola

      INEC

      Mainstream Media Coverage of Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential Election 

      Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of APC

      Nigeria: At the Cusp of Renewed Hope By President-Elect Bola Tinubu

      Kwara Politics and Ward-to-Ward Campaign – A Personal Experience, By Gidado…

  • State
    • Gov Abdulrahaman abdulrazak of Kwara

      AbdulRazaq tasks IEDPU on Development Projects

      herdsman

      Herders Killed 5,138 in Benue in Eight Years – BSEMA

      Kwara Gov mourns Death of Civil Rights Activist, Bashiru Saliu

      After APC’s Lanslide Victory in Kwara, Gov Leads Mustapha, Aluko, Shagaya…

      New Naira Notes: We Rejected Proposed April 10 Extension, Other FG’s…

  • Event
    • 12 Things you Should Know about Armed Forces Remembrance Day in…

      Buk 92 Class 30th Anniversary

      PHOTOS: WhatsApp Reunites BUK 92 Class After 30 Years… As Old…

      Nigerian Navy Charges Personnel On Discipline, Professionalism

      President Buhari Hails CDI Gen Samuel Adebayo on Defence Intelligence, Staff…

      At Ceremonial Sunset, Naval Chief Honours Officers who Freed 250 Abducted…

Home Security Fortifying Nigeria’s Maritime Security
  • Security

Fortifying Nigeria’s Maritime Security

By
Mukhtar Ya’u
-
January 24, 2022

Fortifying Nigeria’s Maritime Security

By Mukhtar Ya’u Madobi
Lately, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Ghada Fathi Wali, out of appreciation was left with no option but to eulogize Nigeria for the first-ever successful prosecution of piracy in Africa. In fact, the UNODC boss lauded Nigeria’s leadership role and commitment to curbing maritime crimes.
Recall that in response to various criminalities being committed along the coast of Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea (GoG), President Muhammadu Buhari had in June 2019, signed Anti-Piracy Bill, also known as, Piracy and Other Maritime Offences (POMO) Bill into law. The purpose of the Act is to prevent and curb piracy, armed robbery, kidnapping and other unlawful acts against a ship. With that development, Nigeria became the first country in the west and sub-central regions of Africa to ratify a law to specifically combat piracy.
It has been established that sea, land and air are the major transport systems in any country whose adequate care, maintenance and protection is very critical to ensuring national security. Indeed, Nigerian waters and the adjoining GoG have been designated as a ‘High Risk Area’ and one of the most troubled and dangerous global waterways.
This has unarguably led to a series of criminal activities including kidnap of oil workers, sea piracy, oil bunkering, ship hijacking, violence against crew and robbery among others. However, the Nigerian government in collaboration with concerned stakeholders has since risen against this challenge and a lot of success stories have been realized so far.
As of last year, reports released by the International Maritime Bureau (IBM) showed that for the first time in 27 years, piracy incidents along the GoG and the Nigerian waterways have dropped significantly. The drastic reduction was observed during the first 9 months of 2021.
While corroborating the report, the Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh, said that sea piracy has declined drastically by 80 per cent on the nation’s territorial waters.
In his words, “We have recorded a drastic reduction in piracy and this is enough for us to beat our chest and that we are ready to return to the category ‘C’ of membership of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
“However, the year 2021 has witnessed a significant turnaround under my leadership as insecurity on Nigerian waters has reduced by 80 per cent.”
According to him, the last time the country had a drop in piracy in the nation’s waterways was in 1994, adding that Nigerian waterways was one of the top 10 safest waters in the world.
Therefore, it is pertinent to understand that, the overall reduction of piracy and armed robbery incidents in the region bears testament to enhanced maritime security and response coordination measures adopted by regional and national authorities, IMB report stated.
Over the years, the government has been making giant strides towards ensuring the safety and security of the maritime industry in Nigeria. Apart from creating a legal and institutional framework for prosecuting maritime crimes, the Federal Government has also prioritized the provision of maritime intelligence facilities.
Notable among these is the commissioning of a state-of-the-art Falcon Eye Maritime Intelligence Facility at the Naval Headquarters in Abuja last year by President Muhammadu Buhari. Meanwhile, the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), was fully involved in facilitating the set up and operationalization of the project.
This is, as part of its efforts to boost Nigeria’s overall maritime security architecture, in accordance with the National Security Strategy (NSS, 2019), under which kidnapping of oil workers, sea robbery/piracy, incessant problems of crude oil theft, illegal bunkering, hostage-taking and maritime terrorism are classified as national security threats.
Still on safeguarding the maritime industry, one of the organs of Nigerian Armed Forces, the Nigeria Navy had in October 2021 inaugurated four Semi-Ballistic Gunboats. The gunboats were constructed for the Defence Headquarters, DHQ, by the Naval Shipyard Limited in Port Harcourt, River State so as to further intensify surveillance within the coastal ways.
According to the Chief of Defense Staff, General Lucky Irabor, the decision to provide armoured gunboats for operations was necessitated by the need to provide added protection to troops in the discharge of the Armed Forces of Nigeria’s responsibility of ensuring safety and security of the nation’s maritime environment at all times.
The Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo noted that, protection of Nigeria’s maritime environment remains a key mandate of the Nigerian Navy and thus, construction of the platforms and their subsequent induction into the maritime assets of the Operation Delta Safe would bolster the operational capacity of the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta area.
With reference to the content of NSS 2019, it was mentioned that, maritime security requires measures that are potent and supported by a strong balanced naval fleet as well as an integral shore based maritime air power and this needs to be fully supported by an effective Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) Infrastructure. And subsequently, the Nigerian Navy has responded to challenges in the maritime domain by
strengthening its strategic and operational capabilities through inter-agency collaborations with other stakeholders in the industry, one of which is the NIMASA.
Therefore, Nigeria must, through sustained surveillance, continue to lead the fight against maritime crimes in the Gulf of Guinea and across the continent, especially in the areas of intelligence sharing and coordinated legal strategy. This is necessary, especially with the recent commendation by UNODC which has placed an enormous responsibility on the country to provide innovative efforts in discharging this vital task.
Mukhtar is a Staff Writer with Emergency Digest

naija breaking news today

Kidnapped School Children

Yauri FGC Students, Kebbi
641 days 14 hours 34 minutes 50 seconds,

Baptist School Students, Kaduna
623 days 16 hours 16 minutes 15 seconds

Tegina Islamiya Pupils, Niger (Freed)
Spent 88 days from May 30, 2021 - August 26, 2021


Report By: PRNigeria.com

 
VISIT OUR OTHER WEBSITES
PRNigeria.com EconomicConfidential.com PRNigeria.com/Hausa
EmergencyDigest.com PoliticsDigest.ng TechDigest.ng
HealthDigest.ng SpokesPersonsdigest.com TeensDigest.ng
ArewaAgenda.com Hausa.ArewaAgenda.com YAShuaib.com
  • TAGS
  • Anti-Piracy Bill
  • maritime security
  • Nigeria
Previous articleBorno Police Nab Political Thugs who Assaulted Lady Fadila Abdulrahman in Maiduguri
Next articleYoung Lawyers Mentoring Club Holds Conference
Mukhtar Ya’u

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Guber Elections: How APC, PDP, NNPP Captured 20 States… Rivers, Kaduna, 7 Others Undecided

Jaigbade Alao: A Garland of Music and- A Tribute

EFCC

EFCC Arrests NCAA’s Account Director, Two Others Over 2bn ‘Duty Tour Allowance’ Fraud

Fact-Check: Was Olumide Oworu, LP Candidate for Lagos Assembly Attacked?

Adamawa Guber Result: Binani Not Gov-Elect, Says PRNigeria Fact-Check

INEC

Mainstream Media Coverage of Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential Election 

Fact Check: Is Aisha Binani Elected as the First Female Governor in Nigeria?

Fact-Check: Did a Yoruba Man Win State Assembly Election in Abia? 

NDLEA Seizes 1.2m Pills of Tramadol, Intercepts Intercepts Heroin Consignment

PHOTOS: ICPC Operatives Attacked as Young Vote Buyers Nabbed

Map of Nigeria

2023 Governorship Election: Live Updates from INEC IReV Results in 28 States

Efcc operatives attacked by political thugs

Vote Buying: Political Thugs Attack EFCC Operatives

  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
© 2020 PRNigeria. All Rights Reserved.
X whatsapp