Renewed Onslaught on Maritime Criminals

Eromosele Abiodun writes that apart from investment in security assets, partnership with Inter Regional Coordination Centre, Yaoundé, training of cadets to man various security platforms in the Lagos-Bayelsa coastal corridor will boost maritime security and the deep blue project

Over the years Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea were known to be the hotbed of piracy and maritime crimes and criminality. Put simply, Nigeria was rated number one in pirates attack in the Gulf of Guinea by the International Maritime bureau (IMB) last year.

The IMB is a specialised department of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The IMB’s responsibilities include in fighting crimes related to maritime trade and transportation, particularly piracy and commercial fraud, and in protecting the crews of ocean-going vessels.

The IMB in a report last year had said Nigeria led the table of pirate attacks with 21 recorded incidents between January and June 2019, as against 31 for the period of 2018, thereby beating Indonesia, which recorded 11 attacks, Venezuela six attacks and Peru with four attacks in six months.
The IMB is part of ICC Commercial Crime Services whose other divisions include The Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau, The Financial Investigation Bureau.

According to the report, Gulf of Guinea saw 73 per cent of all kidnappings at sea, and 92 per cent of hostage takings. Pirates kidnapped 27 crewmembers in the first half of 2019 and 25 in the same period in 2018.

Also, two chemical tankers were hijacked, as well as a tug that was then used in another attack. Of the nine vessels fired upon, eight were off the coast of Nigeria.
These attacks took place on average 65 nautical miles off the coast.
According to the report, the four locations contributed 55 per cent to the total 77 attacks reported in the period as against 75 per cent of 106 attacks reported in 2018.

IMB said pirates and sea robbers are often well armed, violent and have attacked, hijacked, robbed ships, kidnapped crew along far from the coasts, rivers, anchorages, ports and surrounding waters.
While six country namely: Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Venezuela featured on that pirate attack chart in 2018, Nigeria and three other countries with Peru coming in as a new entrant on the chart.

It added that all kind of weapons such as guns, knives and other dangerous material were deployed to carry out attacks on vessels, a development that led to some seafarers being injured and kidnapped.
The report read in part, “In the past, incidents reported up to about 170 Nautical Miles from the coast. In many past incidents pirates hijacked the vessels for several days and ransacked the vessels and stole part of the cargo usually gas oil.

“A number of crewmembers were also injured and kidnapped in these incidents. Generally, all waters in and off Nigeria remain risky. Vessels are advised to be vigilant, as many incidents may have gone unreported.

“Incident continues to rise substantially especially kidnapping of crews for ransom. Vessels are advised to take additional measures in the high-risk waters.
“Although, there was a reduction in the number of attacks in the African region, Nigeria still led the continent all through 2018 and first half of this year. In first six months of 2018, 39 bulk carriers were attacked as against 20 in 2019. For container vessels, nine were attacked in 2019 while six attacks were reported in 2018 as against crude oil tanker that reported 9 in 2018 and 12 in 2019.
“For Chemical tankers and offshore tug vessels, 30 and 3 vessels were reported in 2019 while 22 and 2 attacks were reported in 2019. Vessels carrying Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) had no reported cases in 2018, but had one of such vessels attacked in 2019.”

Renewed Onslaught
Following the IMB report, Nigeria stepped up its fight against pirates, a move that yielded the desired results.
The most cheering news following the deployment of new equipment was the arrest and successful prosecution of 10 pirates mid last year by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

Since then, efforts have been made to see that the issue of maritime crime is tackled headlong. Early this week, Nigeria and the Inter Regional Coordination Centre (ICC), Yaoundé, formed a forum to galvanise regional and international efforts to ensure security in the Gulf of Guinea (GOG). Gulf of Guinea Maritime Collaboration Forum (GOG-MCF/SHADE) was floated after meetings between Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dr Bashir Jamoh, representing Nigeria, and Executive Director of ICC Yaoundé, Admiral Narciso Fastudo Jr.
A joint statement by NIMASA, the Nigerian Navy, and ICC Yaoundé said GOG-MCF/SHADE, which was purposed to facilitate shared awareness and deconfliction of activities in the Gulf of Guinea, “will be open to all GOG countries with similar capacities to join on a voluntary basis.”

The statement dated April 26, 2021 said: “GOG-MCF/SHADE will focus on counter-piracy and armed robbery by bringing together regional, international, industry and NGO partners to advance and coordinate near term maritime activities with a view to working toward a set of common operational objectives in order to protect seafarers and ships operating off the coast of West and Central Africa.”

Jamoh and Fastudo agreed to hold the first virtual meeting of GOG-MCF/SHADE as soon as practicable, saying modalities would be announced later. They said due to its complementary nature, the G7++Group of Friends of the Gulf of Guinea (G7++FOGG) would support the creation of GOG-MCF/SHADE, which would comprise an open plenary session; working group meetings; working group chairs, coordination meeting; and a plenary session report.

Jamoh said: “The new maritime security framework speaks to our own integrated approach to security in the country’s waters and the Gulf of Guinea. We have always believed in bringing all maritime stakeholders on board in the search for security, and we have proffered that as a solution at various forums with our regional and international partners.

“I am confident that cooperative efforts and shared capabilities are the best approach to success in our collective quest for maritime security. GOG-MCF/SHADE is coming as a powerful new force for security in the Gulf of Guinea,” he said.

Training Cadets
In a related development, NIMASA recently announced that it was training 250 new cadets to man its various security platforms in the Lagos-Bayelsa coastal corridor as part of efforts to boost maritime security and the deep blue project.

The move by the agency is expected to nip piracy and other maritime crimes on the Nigerian waters and the Gulf of Guinea in the bud.

Jamoh, who was represented by his Special Assistant on Communications and Strategy, Ubong Essien, said the recruitment exercise was part of the current drive to develop local capacity for improved operations.

He said the 250 cadets are about to be sent for training as part of NIMASA’s commitment to developing manpower to man its many platforms that are coming on stream soon.
“We felt that we must develop our hands locally, which will have ripple effects on the nation’s economy,” he said.

Jamoh disclosed that he was working hard to ensure the full implementation of his three-point agenda of boosting maritime security, safety and shipping development.

He said the new Deep Blue Project (DBP), which would be launched in the coming weeks, would rid the nation’s maritime environment of illegalities adding that the DBP is the nation’s Integrated Surveillance and Security Architecture that will sanitise Nigeria’s maritime industry.
According to him NIMASA is investing in air assets through the acquisition of three special mission helicopters; two special mission aircraft and four unmanned air vehicles.

“On maritime assets, the agency is also investing in two massive well-equipped special mission vessels that will patrol the high seas.The vessels have the capacity to deploy about 17 fast-moving interceptor boats – which are designed for interdiction purposes should there be any crises requiring a swift response.

“On human assets, we have well-trained Special Forces from the various security agencies, including, navy, army and police, among other security agencies,” he said.
The director-general said the agency had also integrated the services of the special police unit, C4I to run its intelligence-gathering centre.

According to him, the agency has invested in a computer command and control centre that will be used to effectively monitor activities on the waterways.

Partnering PAP
Also recently, the NIMASA promised to work in partnership with the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) in the fight against piracy and other crimes in the country’s maritime domain.
Jamoh disclosed this during a working visit to the interim Sole Administrator of PAP, Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (rtd.) in Abuja.

Jamoh underscored the importance of collaboration among relevant agencies and communities in the quest for maritime security.

“We should be working together in partnership to help us appreciate and evaluate the challenges from our various perspectives and collectively come up with solutions that would work for all of us, and the country at large.

“Security problems more often than not have a local content. So, as the country’s maritime regulatory agency, we want to partner the amnesty programme, which interfaces with the littoral communities, to nip the security challenges in the bud, and stand our nation in good stead for the optimisation of our huge maritime resources.”

Jamoh added that he has prioritised advocacy for inter-agency cooperation in the fight against maritime insecurity since his appointment last year,” he said.
“We cannot proffer solution to the issues and crisis in the Niger Delta without the collaboration of the PAP,” he added.

The NIMASA boss said a Maritime Intelligence Unit was recently established by NIMASA to help in the identification of early warning signs in order to prevent security breaches in the littoral areas.

He disclosed that many of the assets being installed and deployed under the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure (the Deep Blue Project) had intelligence gathering capabilities through air, land and sea surveillance.

Jamoh stated that NIMASA was planning to introduce educational, entrepreneurship training, and skills acquisition programmes in the areas of fishing, clearing and forwarding, and legal bunkering, for people in the coastal communities as a way of empowering them and discouraging criminal tendencies.

In his response, Dikio commended Jamoh for his vision and commitment to maritime security.
He also praised the NIMASA DG for his passion for inter-agency coordination and collaboration in the security of Nigeria’s maritime environment.

He said detecting the early warning signs and engaging early responses to prevent security challenges at their early stages would be vigorously pursued.

The PAP boss expressed the willingness of his agency to partner with NIMASA, especially in the empowerment of the locals. He suggested that the people’s knowledge of the local communities should be leveraged in the area of information gathering.

Dikio advised that the training programme being planned by NIMASA should target subjects relevant to the Niger Delta in order to impact them directly and get to the root of the problem.
He also suggested the appointment of nodal officers from PAP and NIMASA to interface and harmonise action points to fast-track the actualisation of the partnership for the overall good of the maritime sector.