A maritime security expert and former Senior Special Assistant on Maritime Affairs to the Presidency, Mr. Gbenga Leke Oyewole has revealed that the Nigerian Navy is currently under-equipped to man the nations maritime domain. This is coming on the heels of the killing of a Naval Rating, Sergeant Chinedu Patrick Osakwe on the 9th of March, 2019 by armed pirates who then kidnapped five crew members onboard of the attacked vessel.
Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune exclusively, Mr. Oyewole stated that with adequate platforms and bullet-proof patrol boats, the rising tide of maritime crime on the nations waterways will be curtailed to the barest minimum.
According to the former Presidential Aide, “The Nigerian Navy lacks enough platforms to man the nations waterways. If as at the time the last attack was happening, the Naval personnel escorting the boat under attack could radio any other nearby platform, I am sure the pirates wont have gone that far. The presence of enough platforms like offshore patrol vessels, gun boats around would even have served as a deterrent to the pirates.
“In those days when Global West Vessel Specialist Limited was handling such operations, the Navy had enough bullet proof patrol boats that were deployed by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). Those boats were deployed to the Navy then and they provided some measure of presence that is far better than what we currently have now.
“Whichever way we look at it, this issue must be tackled headlong almost the same way we are tackling the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northern part of the country. Otherwise, we have not come to the economic reality of what Nigerians are paying as a result of the insecurity in our maritime domain.
“Currently, if you take a car to Cotonou port, you will be paying about $300 less than what you will pay if you had brought the car to Apapa or Tin-Can port because Nigerian ports have been branded unsafe and high security risk. This is not limited to car carriers alone. Almost all the vessels coming to Nigeria demand for payment of premium insurance cover.
“If government can deploy adequate resources into the Navy, to ensure they have more equipment and that they are better trained, the Navy will have sufficient equipment and Nigeria will be unbranded as an unsafe maritime destination.
“Whichever way we look at it, government must fund the Navy appropriately to ensure that the Navy has adequate equipment. Too bad that we lost one Naval Rating to that piracy attack. We cannot continue to lose men to piracy attacks, and be saying its just one person. No naton does things that way.
“If one big offshore patrol vessel goes out, well loaded with enough ammunitions and fuel, other small patrol boats can take off from it and then come back again to reload, refuel, change personnel, they can remain at sea for more than 30 days like that.”
Sergeant Chinedu Patrick Osakwe, aged 38years old, was killed by sea pirates on 9th of March, 2019 at some 32 nautical miles off the coast of Brass, in Port Harcourt. He was one of the seven naval personnel escorting an unnamed oil vessel when it was suddenly attacked by a gang of pirates, armed with sophisticated weapons including machine guns. Chinedu Patrick Osakwe is survived by a wife and two female children of ages five and two.
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