Ridding the waters of crimes
Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea have been topping global piracy index for many years. How can the country imbibe the lessons from the recent security conference in Abuja? MUYIWA LUCAS writes.
Several international organisations, including the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) and United Nations Office of Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) and Gulf of Guinea Commission (GoGC), have accused Nigeria of having serious security issues on her waters.
The insecurity is believed to be fuelled by several unlawful economic activities, such as crude oil theft, illegal fishing, unlawful poaching of the country’s marine resources, unlawful drugs and arms smuggling and the much talked about piracy.
Sea robberies on brown waters have been distinctly defined as different from piracy on blue waters, and Nigeria is plagued by these.
The Malaysia-based IMB in its record of piracy and sea robbery incidents in the third quarter (Q3) of this year listed Apapa port as having the highest piracy incidents.
The report also declared as hot spot the Gulf of Guinea of which Nigerian coastal area shares a larger part. According to the report, Lagos port was said to have the highest number of piracy incidents as at end of the Q3 with 11 cases.
But a consolation for the country, according to the report, was that piracy incidents dipped from 41 as at Q3 last year to 29 within same period this year. The IMB report was silent on figures from other ports but mentioned specific incidents’locations and how they were resolved.
“Lagos recorded 11 incidents in 2019 – the highest number of any port in the world. Despite reporting more attacks than any other country, Nigeria has reduced Q3 piracy attacks from 41 in 2018 to 29 in 2019,” the report stated.
The Gulf of Guinea, according to IMB, remained a high risk area for piracy and armed robbery. It said the region accounts for 86 per cent of crew taken hostage and nearly 82 per cent of crew kidnappings globally. It describes the Gulf of Guinea as a high-risk area for piracy and armed robbery with 86 per cent of crew taken hostage and nearly 82 per cent of crew kidnappings globally.
The Bureau, an arm of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), reported in its quarterly anti-piracy statistics that 119 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships have been reported to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre in the year, compared to 156 incidents for the same period last year.
The report added that thi syear’s incidents include 95 vessels boarded, 10 vessels fired upon, 10 attempted attacks, and four vessels hijacked. The number of crew taken hostage through the first nine months has declined from 112 last year to 49 in the year.
“While the overall number of incidents has dropped, incidents involving guns and knives remain consistent. There have been 24 knife-related and 35 gun-related incidents reported in 2019, compared to 25 and 37 for the first nine months of 2018. These statistics confirm IMB’s concerns over continued threats to the safety and security of seafarers,” the report said.
At the just-concluded Global Maritime Security Conference in Abuja, the Secretary-General of the Gulf of Guinea Commission, Ambassador Florentina Adenike Ukonga, blamed high rate of unemployment for criminality on the country’s waters.
Ukonga suggested ways to create legitimate sources of livelihoods for youths in coastal areas, who naturally have flair for marine activities and could operate easily in the environment.
Similarly, Oliver Stolpe, a representative of the UNODC office in Abuja, listed illicit drug trade as part of the country’s maritime security challenge. He said there had been an increase in the volume of drug seizures recorded between 2014 and last year.
Stolpe, while mentioning tramadol and cocaine specifically, said the volume of seizures had risen within four years. He said while 80 tons of tramadol were seized in Nigeria in 2014 , it rose to 150 tons last year. Sadly, these came through the waters.
High rating
The Gulf of Guinea, according to IMB, remained a high-risk area for piracy and armed robbery. It said the region accounts for 86 per cent of crew taken hostage and nearly 82 per cent of crew kidnappings globally.
For instance, in July, a general cargo vessel was hijacked approximately 120nm Southwest from Brass. Ten crew members were kidnapped from the vessel and released four weeks later. Also, in August, a bulk carrier and a general cargo vessel were boarded within hours of each other at Douala anchorage, Cameroon and a total of 17 crew were kidnapped from the vessels.
This incident demonstrates the range of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea and that all types of ships are vulnerable to attack. Lagos recorded 11 incidents this year – the highest number of any port in the world. Despite reporting more attacks than any other country, Nigeria has reduced Q3 piracy attacks from 41 last year to 29 in 2019.
“Although incidents are down, the Gulf of Guinea continues to be a concern for piracy and armed robbery-related activities with kidnappings of crew members increasing in both scale and frequency.
“It is important that shipmasters and owners continue to report all actual, attempted, and suspected incidents to ensure that an accurate picture of these attacks emerge and action is taken against these criminals before the incidents further escalate,” said Pottengal Mukundan, director, ICC IMB.
Need for cooperation
Determined to find a lasting solution to this menance, President Muhammadu Buhari, while declaring open the Global Maritime Security Conference in Abuja, said the country could not do it alone. He called on the about 80 countries that participated in the event to join in the fight against criminal activities on the waters.
This call is understandable given that Nigeria has the largest population and holds the biggest single market for all forms of trade in the region but has over the years shown poor commitment in addressing her maritime security challenges until recently.
Oil thieves have found the country’s waters as the most fertile ground despite previous international support. It is suspected that the perpetrators of these illegalities vacate the waters whenever they get wind of strong security presence only to return later.
Earlier in the year, the United States Navy had led the Nigerian Navy in a joint operations codenamed “Obongame Express.” The operations, which had Nigeria and 19 other countries participating, could not independently be sustained by the other African countries after the US Navy left.
The challenge, therefore, is how to emulate the feat of Indonesia in the fight against piracy.The country reported a decline in overall piracy related incidents with 20 actual and attempted attacks for the first nine months of the year. Over the past five years, Indonesia has gradually reduced its share of piracy related incidents.
As recent as 2015, Indonesia reported 86 actual and attempted piracy incidents through Q3. Indonesia’s impressive gains can be attributed to continued information sharing between the Indonesian Marine Police and the IMB PRC.
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