‘Piracy may continue on Nigerian waters’

Dele Aderibigbe, Lagos

From left, Chief of Naval Staff, Nigerian Navy, Vice Admiral
Ganiyu Adekeye; Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe; Deputy
Director, Division of Implementation and Coordination,
International Maritime Organisation, Capt. Min Kyung-Rae;
Minister of State, Water Transportation, Mr. Okechukwu
Emeka; and Director General, Nigeria Maritime Safety and
Administration Agency (NIMASA), Mr. Adegboyega
Dosunmu, at the first International Conference on Piracy
and Armed Robbery at Sea, organised by NIMASA and
Nigerian Navy in Abuja recently.The International Conference against Piracy and Armed Robbery on Seas was, last week, held in Abuja and for three days, experts brain stormed on how the menace could be curbed. But while they come up with several recommendations including the procurement of helicopters, fast moving crafts and the enactment of stiff sanctions against piracy so as to work towards its prevention or at least seriously reduced it, they also made a startling discovery: that piracy and armed robbery in Nigerian waters may continue un-abated for at least the next three months. They also further discovered that not only has over 40 cases of violent armed robbery cases been recorded on Nigerian waters this year without any arrest so far being made, but that even those that could take place in the next three months may also not be challenged or arrested.

Bluntly put, the experts have discovered that the nation may have no solution in sight to curb piracy for the next 90 days! Calling attention to this fact, a maritime lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Olisa Agbakoba, highlighted that everything within the environment seems to have particularly favoured the pirates. For instance, he noted that while piracy, in most cases, takes place within a spate of 30 minutes to one hour, the nearest external assistance if any may not arrive earlier than some eight hours after a distress signal has been sent out. What this means is that the pirate would have operated, finished maiming or killing the seafarers in their operation, made clear their escape, share out their loot and may, in fact, have deposited some in the banks of their choice, before the desired external help would arrive.

Agbakoba, who highlighted this also particularly stressed the need for, among other things, very fast moving crafts, standby helicopters and beyond this consistent enlightenment of where to send signal to under emergency. Speaking further on the issue, Agbakoba, who explained that piracy is not new in Nigerian said he was happy that the Navy is totally involved and warned that the menace may not be prevented until the potential pirate knows that he would not escape if ever he commits the crime.

“The average thief would steal once he knows he might not be caught. He would, however, not try it if he knows the odds are clearly against him. “The average attacks take only about 30 minutes. The earliest response to distress calls takes about eight hours. Therefore the pirates are enable to attack, steal, escape, share the loot well away before the law enforcement arrives” he said, pointing out that in Nigeria nobody knows the number of craft operating in our waters and thereby further worsening chances of prevention since the terrain would remain vulnerable until every vessel in the country is registered for easy identification.

He advised Nigerian to keep investigating every case of attack and ensure they report back to the international bodies in respect of such investigation either by saying “ the ship is not a Nigerian ship “ or “this ship has no right to be where it was attacked” because according to him that would at least enable the international community to know that required cases were being addressed or investigated. Speaking in the same vein, the Vice President, Nigeria Trawlers Association, Margaret Orakwurusi alerted Nigerians on the fact that many people were not aware of the kind of pirates operating in Nigeria. “We are talking about militant piracy. In January alone we recorded over 30 attacks; within two days five people were killed. And you need to see the grueling way the men were cut up; and so we immediately withdrew about 170 vessels to safety, truncating business activities whose value runs into billions of Naira.

“The issues are not of whether we are reporting the attacks or not; we report the attacks. Sometimes, the pirates stay as much as 48 hours on board the vessels. We have had cases of threats of blowing up our men and our vessels if we don’t pay up ransom. “Our men should be given helicopter cover and the only way this can be done is to equip the Navy with helicopters and fast moving crafts. “We have experienced over 40 attacks this year. Yet, not even one person has so far been caught. That leaves much to the imagination of all. Piracy in Nigeria, it must be understood is a criminal, serious- minded criminal affair. Therefore the only treatment must be to ensure that he is caught, brought to book and made to face the full wrath of the law!” she explain further. But while the frightening pictures was being painted, the earlier position of the navy could not be ignored. The Chief of Naval Staff CNS, Vice Admiral Ganiyu Adekeye had earlier called attention to the fact that Nigeria presently has only about four functional ships which could perform the task of monitoring or surveillance.

Adekeye, while giving the navy a clear pass mark in the discharge of its duty to the nation despite the observable constraints in its path, also maintained that the navy would continue to protect the territorial waters of the country which observably may not be less than 420 nautical square miles. Yet, he left no one in doubt of the fact that the kind of facility that navy would need were not equipment that could be procured and supplied on the spur of the moments. The first question that immediately came to the minds of the participants was how effective could four ships efficiently monitor or survey activities taking place in a jurisdiction spanning 420 nautical square miles? One person who however gave Nigerians a clearer picture of the menace on our hand was the Director of the International Maritime Bureau, IMB Mr. P Mukundan who argued that the international community would not treat piracy in Nigeria with levity because the country is about the 8th largest exporter of crude in the world.

Mukundan called attention to the fact that not only did at least 42 cases of piracy cases occurred and were officially reported in Nigeria in 2007, not fewer than 12 had also been recorded this year, positing that except the authorities urgently intervened this year, the figure may soar beyond the 42 recorded instances of 2007. The IMB Director noted that 38 cases occurred in 2003; 28 in 2004; 16 in 2005; 12 in 2006 and marveled how the figure suddenly shot up to 42 in 2007. He posted the cases of successful attacks in Nigeria as 35 in 2003; 22 in 2004; 15 in 2005; nine in 2006; 36 in 2007 and eight in 2008. Speaking on the status of vessels when they were attacked in 2007, Mukundan observed that five actually berthed; 24 were anchored and 10 steaming; culminating in the kidnap of five oil workers. He recalled that a construction vessel in May 8, 2007 at Escravos, Delta State was attacked by some 40 pirates who kidnapped four oil workers after which one crew and four Nigerian naval persons sustained injuries.