Maritime safety: NIMASA to acquire fast intervention vessels

IN line with the recent approval by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is set to acquire strategic maritime safety and security assets, which are also in line with the total spectrum of maritime security strategy.

The Director-General of NIMASA, Dr Dakuku Peterside who made this known in Lagos recently, also announced the establishment of a command and control centre as part of the strategic initiative.

“The four components of the initiative are situational awareness, response capability, law enforcement and local partnerships, and regional cooperation which are the fulcrum upon which tackling maritime crime will be built on.”

Dr Dakuku noted that the implementation of NIMASA’s total spectrum maritime strategy in collaboration with the Agency’s partners is a panacea to piracy and maritime crime within Nigerian territorial waters.

He also assured that NIMASA will continue to collaborate with the military, especially the Navy and the Air Force among other partners to make Nigerian waterways safe and secure. “We are not unmindful of the peculiar environment of Niger Delta which poses its own challenge in tackling maritime crime, especially kidnapping of crew and illegal bunkering that leads to pollution; we will continue to work with the Nigerian Navy and regional organisations to strengthen our regional approach to tackling maritime crime,” he said.

While giving the assurance that NIMASA will not relax in its quest to see the early passage of the anti-piracy bill, the draft of which the Federal Executive Council recently approved for legislative action, Dr Peterside added that eradicating maritime crime and piracy will be a priority for the agency and its partners in 2018.

He also used the opportunity to guarantee Nigerians that NIMASA was focused on working with all relevant stakeholders, using its laid out strategy to make maritime crime history in our domain.

It will be recalled that the NIMASA DG has collaborated with stakeholders, both locally and internationally, which has seen to the progress the agency achieved in 2017.