The director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dakuku Peterside, has given further details of how the agency plans to fight piracy in the country’s waters and bring the menace to the barest minimum. At a media interaction on Wednesday in Lagos, Peterside said that the agency has begun a process…
The director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dakuku Peterside, has given further details of how the agency plans to fight piracy in the country’s waters and bring the menace to the barest minimum.
At a media interaction on Wednesday in Lagos, Peterside said that the agency has begun a process of acquiring fast moving patrol vessels and unmanned aerial vessels (UAVs) to assist the it’s satellite surveillance system already on ground.
The patrol vessels are to be used by the Nigerian Navy as part of the agency’s memorandum of understanding (MoU) while UAVs which are capable of sending signals to the patrol vessels will help in gathering events and transmitting them to the Navy and Air Force officers for quick response.
According to the NIMASA boss, the vessels are expected to be on ground by September.
“We want to put in place measures that would discourage people from getting involved in piracy on our waters and other criminal activities on sea. This will require that we have a continued presence of patrol teams on our waters. They will know that if they try to commit crime, there will be quick response. But unfortunately, we can’t be everywhere. We have a long stretch of coastline so we can’t be everywhere. However, we have technology to bridge that gap. On our side, we have the NIMASA satellite surveillance system. With this system, you will be able to have a bird’s eye view of what is going on in the entire maritime domain of Nigeria.
“In addition, the Nigerian Navy has also acquired maritime domain access monitor system. I will also have a comprehensive coverage of the Nigerian maritime domain. The Nigerian Ports Authority also has its own facility that also monitors what is going on in the country’s maritime domain,” he said.
But Peterside acknowledges that it is not enough that the agency is able see that a ship is going to be under attack.
“You can see it in your office at the NIMASA headquarters, but that is not enough. How do we ensure that we move fast enough to stop it? That is why we are acquiring fast moving vessels with naval and NIMASA officials on board. The vessels would have dual purpose function – for antipiracy activities and to support security agencies do their work. We have begun the processes of acquiring the vessels and we are also providing support to the Navy and the Air Force for the coverage of the country’s maritime domain. The vessels will be ready by early September because the advertisement issued for bidding for the provision of the vessels is taken already and by August we will be through with that process and begin the internal procurement process. By my estimation, by September, we will have our vessels all over the place. We have some vessels on the water already, but we just want to engage more vessels so that we can have our vessels everywhere.
“From time to time, regular marine patrol, using special marine patrol aircraft to monitor our waters, will be connected with the vessels on ground. We will also have unmanned aerial vessels (UAV). The UAV have a signal they can send to the vessels patrolling and all the agencies involved will be able to respond quickly. This response capability is what we are currently dealing with,” he said.
According to the NIMASA boss who is a former law maker, the third leg of the agency’s plan against piracy and other sea crimes would be hinged in the law.
“This is very important and it has to do with the area of prosecution. Even when these persons are intercepted and arrested, what do we do with them? In the past, we handed them over to the police, but they have not been diligently prosecuted because there are no laws to do that effectively. So we want to put a new framework in place. Nigeria is the only major maritime country that is yet to have dedicated anti-piracy laws. We are pushing for that so that we have instruments with which to prosecute the captured pirates. We will get support from the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and other United Nations organisations to have a dedicated anti-piracy law which will form a new framework for prosecution of criminal activities on sea,” Peterside said.