Senate Proposes Special Tribunal for Arrested Vessels, Maritime Criminals

…Seeks increased budgetary allocation for navy

Chiemelie Ezeobi

To tackle maritime crimes in the nation’s waterways, the Senate Committee on Nigerian Navy on Tuesday said it has proposed a special tribunal to handle any arrested vessel and its crew.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Navy, Isah Maisau, made this disclosure at the one-day oversight visit to the Western Naval Command (WNC) and Naval Training Command (NAVTRAC), in preparation for the 2017 budget.

Maisau was reacting to the reports by the Flag Officer Commanding, WNC, Rear Admiral Ferguson Bobai, who had, during his briefing, lamented that harbouring arrested vessels and catering for their crew was tasking the navy.

He said, “We are looking at a situation where all these arrested vessels within three months are taken care of. We shall have a special tribunal to handle cases of arrested vessels so that within three months, all the exhibits are handed over to the appropriate agencies and prosecution is concluded.

“At the end of the day, we will put a legislation whereby such vessels are forfeited to the Federal Government to deter the sponsors of maritime crimes because if you auction them, they will go behind and buy it and still continue the illegality.

“But if you put it for government use, it will deter the criminals from venturing into criminality, given the fact that they will forfeit their vessel to the government.”