Nigeria urges West African countries to counter piracy

West African Map

Nigeria urges West African countries to counter piracy

A senior Nigerian government official has called on the West African countries to take concerted and coordinated action to stop growing piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.

The special assistant to the President on maritime services, Mr Leke Oyewole, made the call while speaking with reporters in New York on Sunday after participating in a UN Security Council meeting on piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.

Joint military operation

Oyewole said the introduction of a joint military operation by Nigeria and Benin Republic to counter piracy had yielded positive results, but expressed concern over growing threats of attacks on vessels moving to neighbouring states such as Togo and Ghana.

“We have witnessed a downturn in the rate of piracy both in the Republic of Benin and in Nigeria. Of concern is the movement of vessels towards Togo and Ghana. Though they have not started reporting attacks, we are just concerned that they may begin to witness piracy overtime”, he said.

UN support

Oyewole said that Nigeria and the Republic of Benin enlisted the support of the UN and the international community to tackle security issues in the Gulf of Guinea.

“In terms of human capacity we have human capacity, but do we have equipment or the infrastructure, like the platform, patrol posts, the surveillance equipment, and radar? We don’t have”, he lamented.

He called for the support ofthe international communityto assist the African nations in this aspect to ensure effective monitoring of the coast.

“We must also know that it is not sufficient to put up electronic surveillance systems that will identify ships or whatever thing in the coast, we must be able to approach and establish contact so that we can effectively address whatever issues are identified”, he added.

Tanker vessels attacks

Oyewole, who was appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan earlier this year to coordinate maritime activities in Nigeria, said many attacks on vessels in the region were motivated by oil.

“Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea has eased. It’s a different thing from the kind of thing we have in Somalia. The one in the Gulf of Guinea, when you look at the trend, attacks seem to have been narrowed down to tanker vessels”, Oyewole pointed out.

“What is it that the tanker vessels have that cargo ships do not have?”, he asked.

Oyewole alleged that some of the vessels had failed to report piracy and armed robbery attacks on them because their owners were engaged in criminal and illegal enterprise.

In his words: “These ships, claiming to have been attacked along the West African coast, have they really reported to countries where they are? The answer is no. Do they pay anything to the countries where they operate? The answer is no. So piracy as it is called to me is a breakdown of business deals between the operators of the vessel and the local collaborators. It is not possible for anybody to come to the coast of America with a flying boat without declaring your presence or your intentions. Why is it that we have such ships, 30,000 metric tonnes ships, in the coast of these poor nations doing business and without paying anything to the governments of these nations?’’

Nigerian coastal zone

Oyewole said that the Nigerian government had stepped up its efforts to combat attacks on tanker ships and effectively police its coastal regions.

Such efforts, he said, would require registration of all flying boats operating in the Nigerian coastal zone which sprawls over a total of nine states, namely: Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo and Rivers.

He said that many of the attacks on vessels were carried out by armed gunmen on flying boats.

“We want a situation whereby flying boats offshore, could be identified easily through traceable owners. From the registration, whatever database is created will be given to the marine police”, he proposed.

NAN/Shakira