Nigeria has taken delivery of the first special mission vessel under its Deep Blue Project. The vessel is an integrated surveillance and security architecture meant to tackle insecurity in Nigeria’s waterways, up to the Gulf of Guinea.
Chairman of the Project Monitoring Team for the Deep Blue Project, also known as Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure, Mrs Olu Mustapha, disclosed this recently in Lagos at a graduation ceremony organised by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency for a new set of Command, Control, Computer Communication and intelligence system operators.
Abuja — A total of 378 illegal refineries were destroy in three states of Niger Delta region in the outgoing year,the Nigerian Navy has said.
This was as it said a total of 62 speedboats operating illegally on the Nigerian waters, were seized with 275 suspects were picked up for involvement in the illegal refineries. The Nigerian Navy,addressing the media,yesterday,in Abuja, named the affected states as Bayelsa,Delta and Rivers.
The House of Representatives on Tuesday accused the Navy of collecting $50,000 from ship owners before escorting vessels to their destination.
The House frowned at the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) for failing to secure the waterways despite collecting huge sums of money from ship owners for that purpose.
Regular readers will know that I try to ensure all news published here is relevant and factual. In recent days, I’ve noticed that a number of historical articles relating to piracy in West and East Africa as well as incidents of abduction in SE Asia have appeared online.
Often, this occurs because news sites are updating databases or re-loading previously deleted items. However, for anyone searching for open source maritime security items, there’s a clear danger of confusion. Today, I’ve seen several sites post and then delete items which relate to the hijacking of the MV Aris 13, an incident I was heavily involved in and which helped to resolve.
The bottom line is that if you get your intel from open sources, make sure you verify it. If not, you could end up sharing something alarming, but which happened several years ago…
The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Duke was attacked on Sunday as she sailed from Luanda, Angola, to Lomé, Togo. Six pirates boarded the vessel about 115 nautical miles south-east of Lomé and kidnapped all but one on board – believed to be a Nigerian national. The remaining crew of 20 Indian seafarers were kidnapped.
According to analysts from Dryad Maritime, the specific methodology used are unclear, but given that the incident occurred a significant distance offshore, the pirates are likely to have used a mothership to aid operations.
Worried over the increasing rate of oil theft in the country, the Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, yesterday called for the establishment of ‘Special Courts’ and training of judges to prosecute and convict perpetrators of crude oil theft in the country.
Obaseki, who chaired a committee set up by the National Economic Council Committee to find a lasting solution to the issues of oil theft and pipeline vandalisation, made the call during the inaugural Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) policy dialogue with the theme: “Stemming Oil Theft in Nigeria.”
THE Ports Facility Security Officer Forum of Nigeria, PFSOFN, has said that collaboration among agencies of government was key to security in the maritime industry, a development that will attract more investment in the sector.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the just concluded annual conference of the PFSOFN, Chairman of the Forum, Barrister Emmanuel Onyeabadi, said that a better synergy and collaboration among agencies will go a long way in eliminating conflicts between government security agencies.
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MarsecNews: In my opinion, one of the main issues in Nigeria is the number of agencies all competing in the same maritime space. If anything, the answer is to combine those agencies and create a proper hierarchy which can then offer real leadership and task personnel accordingly, without worrying about treading on other agencies’ toes.
The Nigerian Navy Ship Victory patrol team has intercepted a wooden boat conveying 432 drums of illegally refined automotive gasoline oil from Nigeria to Cameroon.
The Commander of NNS Victory, Rear Admiral Vincent Okeke, said seven suspects were arrested in connection with the seized products at Agbana West Point by Tom Shot Island.
Itoruboemi Benson Lobia, one of the Nigerian pirates, arrived on Thursday (4 December) at Schipol airport from South Africa, and immediately transferred to Dutch justice, according to the NOS television channel. This after a procedure that lasted almost two years.
The Dutch-flagged FWN Rapide of Groningen , owned by the shipping company ForestWave, was attacked by pirates off the coast of Harcourt Harbor on the night of 21-22 April 2018. It was coming from Tadokari in Ghana. Eleven of the 14 crew members were abducted and held hostage for several weeks. The remaining men – who had been hiding during the attack – managed to maneuver the ship for shelter. The hostages were released a few weeks later, on May 18, after paying a ransom. The pirates were asking for $ 2 million, they finally got $ 340,000 according to the Dagblad Noorden.
We are delighted to confirm that late on Friday evening, December 6, 2019, the nine crew members from MV Bonita held as hostages, were released in Nigeria and brought to a safe place in southern Nigeria, after 35 days in captivity.
All crew members have gone through medical examinations Friday and Saturday. The doctor declared all nine fit to fly/travel on Saturday. Needless to say, the captivity has been a very difficult experience for them. The crew members will receive further care and follow up after arrival in the Philippines. Ugland will continue to work with our crew members throughout their recovery process.
After being safely transported out of Nigeria, the crew members have now safely arrived in Manila, Philippines, to reunite with their families and colleagues.
Representatives from Ugland headquarters’ in Grimstad, Norway and other parties have been actively engaged in the process of bringing the hostages home and have been present both in Nigeria and the Philippines.
We are very thankful and relieved that the crew are now free and back home. President Øystein Beisland says: “We are truly happy that the nine crew members are now reunited with their families and have their wellbeing at heart. I would on behalf of the company like to sincerely thank all parties that have contributed to resolving this difficult situation”.
FREE AND SAFE: Eight of the nine hostages from MV Bonita en route to Manila, the ninth crew member is behind the camera. Executive Vice President in Ugland, Arnt Olaf Knutsen, behind
Maritime Security News 