NIWA unmasks sea robbers hide-out at Iddo waterfront

By Oko Ebuka

In a bid to keep the Nigerian waterways safe from robbers, the National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA, Lagos Area office, recently, destroyed shanties on Lagos channels around Iddo waterfront to secure the area for navigation.

The exercise followed petitions and reports of criminal activities and presence of suspected pirates who hide in the shanties where they plan and launch attacks against legal occupants of waterfront facilities as well as take down boats and vessels transporting goods across the channel.

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Source: vanguardngr.com

Gulf of Guinea: Security team comes alive in 3 months

By Godwin Oritse

In a bid to secure oil and gas operations as well as fishery activities in the Gulf of Guinea, countries in the region have agreed to set up an expert working team that would implement resolutions reached at the just concluded Gobal Maritime Security Conference, GMSC, held in Abuja, last week.

Disclosing this to newsmen at the end of the conference, Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, said that the team will be established within the next three months.

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Source: vanguardngr.com

Tough measures against maritime crimes

Ensuring that trade and travel by sea are as secure as possible is a key element of IMO’s work and mandate. IMO took part in the Global Maritime Security Conference held in Nigeria (7-9 October) to look at maritime security challenges in the Gulf of Guinea as well as potential solutions to address maritime threats in the region.

IMO’s Assistant Secretary-General Lawrence Barchue, speaking on behalf of IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim, highlighted that incidents of piracy and armed robbery in the waters off West Africa has the highest reported rate globally and it has become an established criminal activity of very serious concern. He said that “IMO will assist its Member States in enhancing their ability to address maritime security challenges and continue to support the implementation of the Yaoundé Code of Conduct“.

Under the theme “Managing and Securing our Waters” over 80 nations were represented at the event which covered more than eleven thematic panels ranging from maritime governance to technology deployment and regulatory issues.

A list of recommendation was adopted to boost the capacity of maritime security stakeholders and move to end maritime insecurity in the region.

Source: imo.org

Fight Against Pirates Making Ghana A Safe Haven For Vessels – Transport Minister

The Minister of Transport, Hon. Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, has said that government’s heavy investment in modern information systems and equipment to ensure the safety and security of Ghana’s territorial waters are already yielding results and boosting the image of the country.

For instance, he said the country through the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) has in recently acquired five speed boats and two search and rescue boats to ensure safety within the country’s maritime space.

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Source: peacefmonline.com

80 Countries Resolve to Tackle Maritime Insecurity in GoG

Eromosele Abiodun

Rising from a three-day Global Maritime Security Conference in Abuja, 80 countries have resolved to set up an Expert Group to implement the recommendations of the confab aimed at tackling piracy, maritime crimes and criminality in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG).

Addressing a media briefing to mark the end of the event, the Director General of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, said the expert group won’t take more than three months to be in place.

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Source: thisdaylive.com

Damage done by Nigeria’s oil pirates

Parts of the once-thriving ecosystem in Nigeria’s oil-rich delta have been transformed into an ecological dead zone because of oil bunkering – the practice of siphoning oil from pipelines.

Oil pirates puncture holes in pipelines, steal the crude oil, and then transport it to be sold on the black market or to be refined.

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Source: straitstimes.com

Nigeria, Others Lose $2bn to Pirates’ Attacks Annually, Says Naval Chief

By Eromosele Abiodun

The Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas, has revealed that Nigeria and 15 other countries in the Gulf of Guinea are currently losing a sum of $2 billion to pirate attacks annually.

The Naval Chief’s revelation was coming two months after Nigeria was rated as number one in pirate attacks in the Gulf of Guinea in a report by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB). Ibas also confirmed THISDAY’s exclusive report that Nigeria loses several millions of dollars to illegal fishing and poaching on the nation’s coastal and territorial waters.

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Source: allafrica.com

Nigeria: House Sets Up Committee to Investigate Oil Theft

By Shola Oyeyipo

Abuja — House of Representatives Thursday resolved to set up an ad-hoc committee to ascertain the quantity of oil that is stolen on a daily basis and those responsible for such theft in the country.

The committee would also be mandated to determine the volume of oil extracted in the country on a daily basis, determine the quantity sold at the internal markets and what is consumed locally.

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Source: allafrica.com

Nigerian Navy hands over seven suspects to NSCDC

The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Lagos command, has said another seven suspected Premuim Motor Spirit (PMS) illegal dealers have been handed to the command by the Nigerian Navy.

The Spokesperson for NSCDC, Lagos command, Mrs Kehinde Bada-Okoli, who disclosed to newsmen on Wednesday, said the suspects are all male. Bada-Okoli, said some of the items recovered from the suspects includes 80 drums of 250 litres of PMS and 100 of 250 liter empty drums.

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Source: thenationonlineng.net

Maritime security: Navy urges IOC’s to share intelligence

Olaleye Aluko

The Nigerian Navy has urged international oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region to ensure information and intelligence sharing as parts of efforts to combat oil theft and achieve a safe environment in the region.

The Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Ibok Ete-Ibas, stated this on Tuesday when he received the Managing Director of Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited, Mr Lorenzo Fiorillo, at the naval headquarters in Abuja.

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Source: punchng.com