Nigeria to form border force with neighbors Benin and Niger to fight smuggling

ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria and neighboring countries Benin and Niger have agreed to set up a joint border patrol force to tackle smuggling between the West African countries, they said in a communique on Thursday.

Foreign ministers from the three countries met to discuss smuggling following a decision by regional giant Nigeria, which has Africa’s largest economy and biggest population, to close its land borders to trade until at least Jan. 31, 2020.

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Source: reuters.com

Navy monitors pipelines with drones

By Precious Igbonwelundu

The Nigerian Navy (NN) on Thursday said drones and helicopters have been deployed for surveillance of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pipelines from Atlas Cove, Apapa to Ejigbo and Mosimi depots in Lagos and Ogun states.

This deployment, the service said, was to beat pipeline vandals who loot petroleum products from ruptured pipes and then find ways to smuggle them out of the country.

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Source: thenationonlineng.net

Pirates have attacked 16 cargo vessels a month this year in Gulf of Mexico

And not a single arrest has been made

Pirate attacks in the southern part of the Gulf of Mexico have increased fourfold in just two years, triggering calls for the navy to bolster its presence in the area.

Between January and September, there was an average of 16 attacks per month on cargo ships off the coast of Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, and Dos Bocas, Tabasco, according to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).

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Source: mexiconewsdaily.com

ITF Calls for Action on Gulf of Guinea Piracy

Following back-to-back attacks on two vessels in the Gulf of Guinea last week, the International Transport Worker’ Federation has called for urgent global and regional cooperation to fight piracy off West Africa.

On November 2, pirates kidnapped nine crewmembers from the Norwegian-flagged MV Bonita while the vessel was at anchor off the coast of Benin. Two days later, four crewmembers were taken hostage off the coast of neighboring Togo from the Greek-flagged Elka Aristotle. Several other abductions have been reported in the Gulf of Guinea in recent months, including eight crewmembers taken hostage off Cameroon in August and 10 seafarers off the coast of Nigeria in July.

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Source: maritime-executive.com

Oil theft and Nigeria’s self-imposed poverty

Jerry Uwah

Nigeria is wallowing in self-imposed poverty. The situation would remain so for a pretty long time because no one in federal government has the political will power to confront the elements of backwardness in the land. Agriculture has remained in the hands of millions of peasant farmers who eke out a living through subsistent farming with primitive implements. Nigeria cannot feed its teeming population.

Nigeria is practically broke, but the federal government insists that what it is battling is sporadic cash flow problems rather than absolute cash crunch.

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Source: blueprint.ng

We’re engaging security agencies to secure waterways – NIWA

The Managing Director of the Nigeria Inland Waterway Authority (NIWA) Dr George Muoghalu, said the authority is engaging security agencies, especially the Nigerian Navy to play the expected role of ensuring that the waterways are secured and safe for use.

He also said the Authority was working hard to ensure that the 10000 kilometers waterways are all year round navigated.

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Source: dailytrust.com.ng

Maritime Security in Gulf of Guinea: France advocates concerted efforts

Mrs Genevieve Darrieussecq, the Secretary of State to the French Minister for the Armed Forces, has advocated for concerted efforts to address the challenges of maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea.

She said concerted efforts were needed to carry out a decisive work to combat the scourges that threaten safety at sea, which was an indispensable work for the development of the West Africa sub-region.

Mrs. Darrieussecq made the appeal in Accra at the G7++ Friends of the Gulf of Guinea Group (G7++FoGG) 2019 summit.

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Source: businessghana.com

NEITI: Nigeria lost $42bn to oil theft in 10 years

By Regina Otokpa

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has raised the alarm that in the last 10 years, crude oil and refined products worth the sum of $42 billion were stolen from the country.

This was contained in a Policy Brief titled ‘Stemming the Increasing Cost of Oil Theft to Nigeria’ released and made available to newsmen by NEITI’s Director, Communications and Advocacy, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji yesterday in Abuja.

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Source: newtelegraphng.com

Sea robbers unleash terror on Bonny, Okrika, Ogoni waterways

By Tola Adenubi

N the last one month, sea robbers have unleashed terror on passenger speed boats plying the Bonny, Okrika, Bille, Andoni, Kula and Ogoni river waterways in Rivers State, killing security operatives in the process and carting away personal belongings of boat passengers, including taking away boat engines during such attacks.

Disclosing this to Tribune Online on Wednesday via telephone interview, a member of the Trustee of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Comrade Harry White wondered what has happened to gunboats that were recently procured by the Rivers State government to tackle maritime crimes.

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Source: tribuneonlineng.com

NASS petitioned over secure anchorage area

A group pushing for security of shipping services in the country has petitioned the National Assembly over the pronouncement by the Nigerian Ports Authority, (NPA), instructing shipping operators to stop paying for personalised security services offered in the Secured Ancourage Area, (SAA) operated by the Nigerian Navy in collaboration with private firm, Ocean Marine Solutions (OMS) Limited.

The group, under the aegis of “Association of Professionals for Safety in Shipping in Nigeria,” APOSSIN, noted that the directive was not only ill-advised but also will be counter-productive, stressing that NPA does not have the authority to make such pronouncement on an arrangement by another agency of government to deliver on its mandate. The SAA is outside the port limits and hence not under the administrative control of the NPA. Security of the nation’s maritime domain statutorily rests on the Nigerian Navy. NPA by the pronouncement is interfering with the functions of the Nigerian Navy, a move that must be condemned by all well-meaning Nigerians.

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Source: vanguardngr.com