How collaboration is suppressing piracy in Nigerian, GoG waters

In recent months, Nigerian waters and to a large extent, the Gulf of Guinea have witnessed no piracy attacks on ships due to Nigeria leading by example through the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure, thereby galvanising national, regional and international collaborations and harvesting international goodwill, TOLA ADENUBI reports:

Nigeria, being the biggest economy in Africa accounts for most of the vast resources and shipping traffic in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) region area and most of the piracy attacks were traceable to its territorial waters. Realizing the strategic importance of changing the narrative, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria has, in recent times demonstrated the will and might in curbing this age-long menace by not only committing tremendous resources in its Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure, also known as the Deep Blue Project, but also galvanizing regional collaboration.

Deep Blue Project

In response to calls by the maritime stakeholders and global yearnings for enhanced efforts and commitments to combat the menace of piracy incidents and guarantee safety of seafarers and ships in the Gulf of Guinea maritime zone, President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, June 10, 2021 in Lagos performed the official launch of the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure, also known as the Deep Blue Project.

NIMASA is charged with the coordination of the Project with its objectives to be realised through a dedicated unit; the Maritime Security Unit comprising of personnel and officers from the Nigerian Navy, Air Force, Army, Police, the Department of State Services and NIMASA. The Project, which is securing Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea’s maritime environment from land, sea and air, includes the establishment of a Command, Control, Communication, Computer and Intelligence (codenamed C4i) Centre based in Lagos for intelligence and data gathering and information sharing.

It is worthy of note that the government of Nigeria has acquired various security equipment as well as engaged in the training of security personnel aimed at curtailing acts of piracy such as coastal surveillance vehicles, patrol ships, patrol aircrafts, armored vehicles, unmanned aircrafts etc.

Regional and international collaboration

It will be recalled that as part of efforts to secure the Gulf of Guinea, the constituent coastal States met at the Yaounde Summit in 2013 and set up a maritime security framework known as the Yaounde Process with three regional coordination centered in Abidjan, Pointe-Noire and Yaounde to create awareness on the maritime security challenges in the region through data collection and information sharing arrangement.

The regional efforts have attracted international support from European Union members, the United States of America and China by way of supply of military hardware, training, finance, naval support and patrol.

This came as the Gulf of Guinea Declaration on Suppression of Piracy has confirmed that there has not been any case of Seafarers kidnapped one year after the May 2021 declaration. This is considered a commendable progress in comparison to the 2020 statistics when 130 seafarers were kidnappe.

The status report from the Gulf of Guinea declaration also confirmed that there has not been any case of kidnap for ransom in 2022, as against 20 cases in 2020 and 12 in 2021.

Similarly, the International Maritime Bureau IMB has confirmed that no case of vessel hijacking took place in Nigerian waters in the first half of 2022.

NIMASA and GoG-MCF/SHADE

The Gulf of Guinea collaboration Forum SHADE was established by Nigeria and 22 countries of the ICC in July 2021. The goal was to implement effective operational counter-piracy cooperation among regional and international Navies as well as the shipping industry and reporting Centres of the Yaounde Code of Conduct (ICC) for the Regional Strategy for Maritime Safety and Security in the Central and West African region.

The first edition of the plenary was held virtually, organised by Nigeria and the Interregional Coordination Centre (ICC). The meeting benefitted from the participation of IMO, regional and international Navies, the international shipping industry, and other maritime stakeholders in the Gulf of Guinea. Following a number of interventions by speakers, three working groups were formed to discuss emerging trends and topics. The working groups were separated into thematic areas: Cooperation at Sea (Operations), Reporting and Information Sharing, and Air De-Confliction, with each working group chaired by a regional representative and supported by a Subject Matter Expert.

This event was the inaugural meeting of the GoG-MCF/SHADE, launched by ICC Yaoundé and the NIMASA, representing Nigeria. The announcement for the creation of the forum was made in April 2021 via a joint statement of NIMASA and ICC Yaounde. In the announcement, both partners outlined that the “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.”

GoG anti-piracy system takes shape

International efforts to co-ordinate the fight against piracy in the Gulf of Guinea are gaining momentum, according to the former shipping adviser to EU Naval Force Somalia, Simon Church.

Church, who was the former director of Maritime Security Centre Horn of Africa, told Lloyd’s List that countries, navies, and West African States are seeking to mirror the approach used successfully in Somalia.

In February of the past year, Nigeria, through NIMASA, and the Inter-regional Co-ordination Centre of the Yaoundé Code of Conduct, which represents 21 countries of the Gulf of Guinea region, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a regionally led Shared Awareness and Deconfliction, known as SHADE Forum.

The G7 ++ Friends of the Gulf of Guinea group of nations appointed Mr. Church as special adviser to the forum’s co-chairs.

Mr. Church says the system, called Solarta, allowed the Russian navy respond quickly to the October 25 attack on the containership MSC Lucia (IMO: 8413887), chasing the pirates away before they could take any hostages.

“The system has gone online, and has proved to be effective in preventing attacks becoming hostage situations. And that is a big accomplishment in the space of six months,” Mr. Church said.

Fall in piracy incidents

According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) the recent fall in piracy incidents in Gulf of Guinea was because of “vigorous action taken by authorities” in the region and commended the “robust actions of the Royal Danish Navy”.

But security sources at the recent fifth plenary of the GoG Maritime Collaboration Forum for the Shared Awareness and Deconfliction (GOG-MCF/SHADE) were divided on why incidents have fallen, saying it is too soon to tell whether it was down to better enforcement or political and economic factors within Nigeria.

In his address at the Forum, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Adm. Awwal Gambo who was represented by Rear Adm. Saidu Garba, Chief of Policy and Plans said that collaborative framework offered a veritable platform for GoG nations and other partner nations to congregate and cooperate to address the piracy challenge facing the region.

“On the part of the Nigerian Navy, the successes recorded were largely due to its ongoing efforts towards building institutional capacity in reinforcing capabilities for maritime governance.

“Nonetheless, there is still room for greater collaboration in the areas of information sharing, increased presence of naval assets and strengthened legal frameworks among the GoG nations as well as international partners,” Vice Adm. Awwal Gambo said.

Similarly, Rear Adm. Solomon Agada, Co-Chair of the Forum said that the vision of GoG SHADE was to have a Gulf of Guinea maritime environment free from incidents of piracy and armed robbery.

Director General of NIMASA, Bashir Jamoh, said in a recent statement in Lagos that regional cooperation plays an important role in reducing incidents of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea region.

According to him, these collaborative initiatives, as well as efforts of the Nigerian Navy and other regional navies, including the deployment of the Deep Blue Project, have been responsible for the reduction in piracy incidents in the region.

This, he said, was why the IMB recently removed Nigeria from the global piracy list, and the goal was to sustain the piracy-free Gulf of Guinea. This was the thrust of presentations at the Gulf of Guinea forum.

The DG of NIMASA who noted that collaboration and co-operation was central in attaining enhanced security in the GoG, said that NIMASA is committed to providing all logistics required for members of the SHADE/FORUM to thrive and maintain the momentum.

The Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Mr. Kitack Lim, who addressed the Forum virtually, congratulated Nigeria on the efforts it has embarked on to improve security in its territorial waters and the Gulf of Guinea domain at large.

He challenged members of the SHADE Forum to maintain the momentum in order to sustain the gains of the past one year.

Harmony of governance

The Legislature is saddled with the responsibility to enact laws that are proactive and reactive to the various challenges faced by the Nigerian Maritime space and this is most recently exemplified by the enactment and passage into law of the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences Act, 2019 (SPOMO Act). According to the Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, the SPOMO Act has been tremendously helpful in stemming the scourge of piracy in Nigeria and invariably, the Gulf of Guinea. I am aware that this piece of legislation is being understudied by some other nations in the Gulf and it is hoped that more nations will have their own municipal laws like the SPOMO Act so as to synchronize the legal framework in the battle against piracy within the region.

Although a lot more still has to be done in terms of infrastructure, the quicker other nations of the Gulf of Guinea increase their capacity, the better for the region. As a matter of fact, the integration and synchronization of policies will only be achieved where all the nations of the region are committed to the goal at the same level and pace.

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