Anna Okon
The Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has stated that proper legal framework, synergy and information sharing among government agencies and stakeholders will help curb crimes in the nation’s territorial waterways and the Gulf of Guinea.
Peterside, who stated this during the first specialised meeting on maritime piracy organised by the INTERPOL Regional Bureau of West Africa in Lagos, called on stakeholders to work harmoniously and not at cross purposes in order to find a lasting solution to the menace of piracy activities in the region.
Speaking further, he said that there was a need for crimes to be successfully prosecuted, adding that the prosecution of perpetrators of crimes committed at sea had commenced in order to deter others.
“We have at no time prosecuted crimes on our waterways and the security agencies must initiate it. Every person may give us assistance, but we have a role to play in ensuring that our waterways are safe and secure,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
The NIMASA DG commended INTERPOL for the initiative, noting that it would engender synergy among government agencies.
He also assured that NIMASA would always support any initiative that could foster the growth and development of the maritime sector.
The regional specialised officer for maritime piracy and the convener of the meeting, Mr. Sunday Okoebor, bemoaned the spate of criminal activities in the Gulf of Guinea and blamed it on lack of synergy among the security agencies.
He stated, however, that capacity development of the law enforcement officers of the various countries in the region was vital to tackling all forms of illegalities and crimes.
While also calling on all security agencies to collaborate more, he noted that for INTERPOL to function appropriately, there must be a fusion centre where all necessary bodies were present, so that everyone would work collaboratively to eliminate the problem of bureaucracy, thereby giving way for proper prosecution.
An assistant director from the Ministry of Justice, Dr. Omotayo Oni, was also quoted in the statement as saying that the ministry was working hard to ensure that the bill on piracy and maritime crimes sponsored by NIMASA saw the light of the day, to stand as a legal framework for the prosecution.
Also at the meeting, were representatives of the Nigerian Navy and the Nigeria Police Force, and they pledged their support for the growth and development of the maritime sector in the region.
A bill on piracy and maritime crime had earlier been put forward by NIMASA, intended to give the agency the momentum required to deal decisively with all forms of crimes on the nation’s territorial waterways.
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