By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
The Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh has revealed that there has been no maritime crimes in Nigeria’s international waters as the country has recorded zero sea robberies or pirate attacks since the beginning of 2022.
He also said that the deployment of an Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure in Nigeria, codenamed Deep Blue Project supervised by NIMASA is responsible for the sharp drop in maritime crimes in Nigeria waters.
Dr. Jamoh made the revelation when he appeared at the 53rd Session of the State House Briefing on Thursday, October 6, 2022, to provide key updates on the strides being made by the Agency in her commitment to enthrone global best practices in the provision of maritime services in Nigeria.
The NIMASA boss explained that the Deep Blue project, which was inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari last year was to ensure that the nation’s waters and the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) are safe and secured.
According to him, about 70 per cent of maritime trade in the Gulf of Guinea is conducted in Nigeria’s waters hence this places enormous responsibility on the country to keep its maritime environment and by extension, the entire GoG, safe and secure.
Explaining further, Dr. Jamoh insists that NIMASA under his watch has performed creditablly well, adding that the agency’s Performance Tripod is hinged on Triple S which are S- Maritime Security, S- Maritime Safety and S- Shipping Development.
On Maritime Security, he said NIMASA has done extremely well with the coming on stream of Deep Blue Project especially the setting up of SPO Center under The Inter-Operability of The Deep Blue Assets.
Said he: Under the Deep Blue Project NIMASA has made giant strides especially with the acquisition of security hardwares like Special Mission Ship; 16 Special Armoured Vehicles for Nigeria’s vast Creeks; Two Special Aircraft; 17 Pass Interceptors and 4 Unmanned Air Surveillance Platforms”.
He also said that a lot of efforts have been made to improve maritime security by President Buhari’s regime, pointing out that “Nigeria at some points overtook Somalia as the most dangerous territorial waters in the world but NIMASA has changed the trajectory”.
He argued that Sea Piracy Incidents in the Gulf of Guinea is becoming a thing of the past as it has dropped from 34 incidents in 2021 to zero from January 2022 to date.
According to Dr. Jamoh the above scenario has led to the removal of Nigeria from Piracy list in March 2022 just as he stated that the main objectives of the Nigerian Navy is to deal with Kinetics part of the maritime security while NIMASA deals with Non-Kinetics maritime security”.
On Maritime Safety, Dr. Jamoh posited that over 600 Special Trained Forces and Law of Deep Sea Projects have been enacted to prosecute maritime offenders.
Said he: “Before June 2019, Nigerian judiciary found it difficult to prosecute maritime offenders but all that have changed as NIMASA has secured 20 convictions including foreigners with 10 getting long jail terms while others get various jail terms too”.
On Shipping Development, Dr. Jamoh said that 90% of Nigeria’s global trading is done through shipping the Deep Sea Projects
