Olaleye Aluko, Abuja The Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, has said Nigeria recorded 71 pirate attacks on ships in the Niger Delta region in the first halves of 2016 and 2017. Dan-Ali disclosed this on Wednesday at the G7 and Gulf of the Guinea meeting in Rome, Italy, adding while the first half of 2016 […]
Olaleye Aluko, Abuja
The Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, has said Nigeria recorded 71 pirate attacks on ships in the Niger Delta region in the first halves of 2016 and 2017.
Dan-Ali disclosed this on Wednesday at the G7 and Gulf of the Guinea meeting in Rome, Italy, adding while the first half of 2016 witnessed 55 attacks, 2017 witnessed 16 attacks.
The minister, who added that 36 were successful in the 55 attacks and four in the 16 attacks, noted that there had been recent improvements in maritime policing and reduction in pirate attacks.
Dan-Ali urged the Federal Government had initiated plans to establish “modular refineries” in order to curb crude oil theft and promote youth employment in the region.
He said, “Within the past few years, the states in the Gulf of Guinea have embarked on several reforms to improve safety and security of maritime economy in the region. The socio-economic agitations in the Niger Delta have posed challenges such as attacks on shipping, crude oil theft and illegal bunkering. Nevertheless, the combination of infrastructure development and sustenance of the Amnesty Programme has improved maritime policing activities.
“In the first half of 2016, 55 pirate attacks on shipping were recorded with 36 successful. In this closing first half of 2017, however, only four successful attacks were recorded out of 16 attempts. This is a reflection of the activation of the anti-piracy Operation Tsare Teku off the Niger Delta coast.
“The Federal Government also initiated plans to establish modular refineries and other programmes to curb crude oil theft and to promote youth employment.”
The minister said there had also been a trend of kidnap-for-ransom in the region, urging states in the Gulf of Guinea to collaborate with Nigeria on information sharing and intelligence.
He said this partnership would help to nip the criminal networks in the bud.
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