Navy Confiscates 206 Vessels, Barges Over Insecurity
The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, has said the Nigerian Navy had confiscated a total of 206 vessels and four barges in an effort to enhance security in the country’s maritime sector.
Ibas, who disclosed this at the ongoing Global Maritime Security Conference in Abuja, state that the seizures were made in the last four years on Nigerian waters.
He told participants at the conference that the recent security concerns within Nigeria’s maritime environment stemmed largely from non-military causes such as socio-economic agitations.
Other causes include rising population, unemployment in coastal communities and illicit activities of local and foreign collaborators.
He said, “These manifestations include attacks on shipping, sabotage of local hydrocarbon infrastructure, maritime resource theft, diverse form of illicit trafficking and maritime pollution.
“The increasing mutation and migration tendencies of these challenges across national boundaries expose systemic litigations to the maritime presence and law enforcement at sea.”
Ibas, however, noted that the Nigerian Navy had acquired offshore patrol vessels, fast attack craft, logistics vessels, hydrographic ship, as well as more than 300 inshore patrol crafts to enhance security.
“This has paid off with the arrest of 206 vessels and barges as well as hundreds of suspects for various maritime offences in the last four years, aside from incalculable deterrence value,” he said.
Also at the conference, President Muhammadu Buhari, who was represented by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Zubairu Dada, said the threats of piracy and armed robbery at sea were issues of global concern.
He said it was regrettable that the Gulf of Guinea was the epicentre of maritime security discussions globally, given the incidents recorded in the region.
The President, however, noted that available statistics had shown that efforts to eradicate the menace by the governments in the region were bearing dividends.
