The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) and the Nigerian Navy has entered into a partnership in a bid to reduce the high level of maritime crime witnessed on Nigerian waterways over the past years.
Speaking while on a courtesy visit to the Navy Headquarters on Tuesday in Abuja, the Executive Secretary of Council, Hassan Bello said that “more than ninety per cent of the world’s commerce is moved through maritime shipping over sea lanes.
“With increasing reliance on just-in-time delivery of products, countries are closely bound together by maritime shipping. For instance, from 2016 to June 2018, there were 10,673 vessel calls at the ports with a gross registered tonnage of over 329 mutton.
“However, one of the major challenges in the maritime sector is security. We have received various complaints from the shipping companies, who have been forced to provide their own security to escort their vessels to port (especially at the eastern ports) In spite of their efforts, between 2017 and 2018, there have been 88 attacks in the Niger Delta” he noted.
According to him, the cost of these shipping companies providing their own security is “passed on to the consignee contributing to the high cost of the product market.”
He said, “due to the high level of maritime security incidents in the Gulf of Guinea, the War Risk surcharge is imposed on Nigeria. This impacts on freight charged on Nigeria bound cargo.
“The security challenges in the maritime sector contributes immensely to the competitiveness of our nation’s ports, impedes trade and affect the nation’s gross domestic product” he stated.
Bello further revealed that “the adaptive nature of maritime security threats require collective security measures. We believe that ensuring maritime security requires a concerted and sustained effort among coastal states, landlocked states, flag states, international organizations, and most especially, maritime industry stakeholders.
“We have had meetings with Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) on the same issue and wish to appreciate the Navy for your collaboration with them especially with regards to Deep Blue Scale Up project. NIMASA assured us that the hi-ted1 surveillance systems and other measures to strengthen maritime security would be in place by the 1St quarter of 2019.
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“We would appreciate it if the Navy would support NIMASA by accelerating the various processes being put in place to address maritime security.
“The West and Central African maritime regional architecture, as it is structured, rests on three important pillars: political will, security, and law. A critical part of maritime security is capability and capacity ashore and includes investigative/law enforcement. prosecutorial, and judicial sectors.
“We wish to appreciate the Chief of Naval Staff, noting that there is need for the Navy to provide a platform to be placed strategically offshore and guards transferred to each vessel in and then dropped off out such that there is always armed naval security presence from about 80 nautical miles off Bonny fairway buoy up to Onne.”
On his part, the Chief of Navy, Ibok Ekwe Ibas said “I am happy the Executive Secretary of Shippers Council has embraced the responsibilities of the Council and also highlighted some of the challenges that Nigeria is having presently and what efforts have been made to mitigate against this challenges.
“I also want to remind us of the Nigerian Navy mandate to the provision of maritime security which of course compliment the efforts of the Council as a regulator in shipping activities, and therefore wants to re-emphasised the fact that the Nigerian Navy remains committed to improving security in the maritime space. We have carried out a couple of measures and strategies that have yielded positive results.
He noted that “the Nigerian Navy has a trinity approach in containing maritime security, surveillance, response and enforcement. I want to state here that our surveillance capability is been enhanced daily, with the number of ships and the maritime domain awareness infrastructure that Navy has acquired in the recent past, it is very easy for the Nigerian Navy to see what is happening in our maritime space.
“We are also building capacity to respond appropriately to such challenges. one area that has been of serious concern is that of enforcement which is also tied to the legal framework and the harmonised standard operating procedures which were drawn up to assist this aspect.”
He said “in 2018, we arrest 40 vessels and have in our custody over 150 persons which we have handed over to the various prosecuting agencies. For last year alone and this year, all together we have over 130 vessels that were seized or arrested for maritime crime,” he added.
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