Fighting piracy in the Gulf of Guinea needs a radical rethink

The Bonita had been anchored off Benin for several days, waiting for a berth in the port of Cotonou. On November 2, 2019 the crew had a traumatic awakening. Armed men boarded the vessel and kidnapped nine crew members. Only two days later, four seafarers were kidnapped from the Elka Aristotle, which was anchored off Lomé in neighbouring Togo.

Unfortunately, these were not the only attacks off the coast of West Africa in which seafarers were kidnapped. Nevertheless, the patterns are changing, with gradual signs of improvement. In addition, attacker success rates in the region have declined from 80% over ten years ago to just under 50% in 2018.

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Source: econotimes.com

Pirates Thriving Off West Africa Show Disunity, Togo Leader Says

By Yinka Ibukun

West African states’ failure to coordinate their response to piracy off their coastline is the main reason attacks are persisting, Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe said.

Seaborne assailants boarded two vessels off the coast of Togo and neighboring Benin earlier this month.

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Source: bloomberg.com

Despite N350.4b annual security budget, oil facilities not safe

By Kingsley Jeremiah

Though the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and some International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the country stake as much as N350.4b for staff and asset protecting yearly, the nation is still losing over N1.6t to oil and gas theft every year.

Indeed, stakeholders in the sector are pointing accusing fingers at the nation’s military and a network of politically exposed individuals as being behind the growing losses of crude and refined petroleum products estimated at $42b (N15t) in the past 10 years.

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Source: guardian.ng

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

Camillus Eboh

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

Senate Wants Deep Blue Sea Project Fast-Tracked To Fight Piracy

The Senate on Wednesday called on Nigeria’s maritime agency to quickly fast-track the implementation of the Deep Blue Sea Project for the protection of Nigeria’s waterways to combat the menace of pirates and armed bandits.

This resolution was a sequel to a motion titled “urgent need to address the menace of piracy and banditry in the Gulf of Guinea and Nigeria’s internal waters.”

The Senate also urged the federal government to deploy more naval personnel on the Oron coastal area to check the activities of pirates and bandits.

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Source: channelstv.com

Four Immigration officers kidnapped by sea pirates rescued by Navy

By Tola Adenubi

The Nigerian Navy, early on Wednesday morning, rescued four officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), who were abducted on the Bonny River in the evening of Monday by suspected armed sea pirates.

Disclosing this to newsmen on Wednesday, the Commanding Officer of the Forward Operating Base (FOB) of the Nigerian Navy, Navy Capt. Kola Oguntuga explained that the officers were rescued during a surprise operation by the maritime component of the Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Delta Safe; and the FOB of the Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS Pathfinder.

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Source: tribuneonlineng.com

Four senior immigration officers abducted in Rivers

By Bisi Olaniyi

Four senior officers of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) were on Tuesday morning kidnapped on Bonny waterway in Rivers State.

An indigene of coastal Bonny, the headquarters of Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers, who spoke in confidence through the telephone, disclosed that the immigration personnel left Bonny for Port Harcourt, the state capital for documentation and other official matters at NIS’ headquarters, when the sea pirates attacked them on the high sea, thereby whisking them away in a Commando-like style.

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Source: thenationonlineng.net

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