Nigeria is not a war zone, IBF rules

Dele Aderibigbe and Folashade Alli, Lagos

From right, Dr. Ade Dosunmu, Director General,
Nigerian Maritime and Aviation Safety Authority;
Prince John Emeka, Minister of State for
Transport and Mr. Hans De Van Baarg, Regional
Coordinator of International Maritime
Organisation during the first search and rescue
coordination meeting held in Nigeria, recently.The controversy over the actual status of Nigeria as a ‘war zone’ may have finally been rested as the International Bargaining Forum IBF, which brings together a significant number of owners of open registry vessels and seafarers' unions has decided that Nigeria should not be declared a “war zone”.

Such declaration if endorsed by the IBF would have allowed seafarers to decline service in the affected zone and to receive a "danger money" bonus, a development which would have further increased the cost of doing business in the nation’s ports, as weell as further fuelled inflation.

Instead the IBF approved specific security guidelines and an action plan for vessels calling at Nigeria. Statistics prepared by the International Maritime Employers' Committee concerning the security incidents in Nigeria over the past two years, fell short, in their view, of full warlike conditions. The recommendations therefore only apply to operators of deep sea merchant ships that may call at a Nigerian port in the course of a normal international voyage.

The assembly however advised on specific measures to be adopted as being inclusive of the following:

1. Ships should normally operate as if the ship security plan level 2 was in effect. In the ports of Warri, Bonny, Onne and Port Harcourt, and the waterways and approaches to these ports, including offshore, it might be appropriate to implement higher security measures.

2. If ships are in a liner service with regular port calls in the worst affected areas, detailed local advice about the security situation should be obtained and arrivals and departures timed to coincide with security patrols operated by Nigerian Government forces.

3. Shore leave should be restricted to the absolute minimum and in the less secure ports mentioned above, it should be prohibited altogether.

4. Normal crew changes should not be effected in Nigeria unless absolutely essential.

5. Regular liaison should be maintained with seafarers families to advise them of the security measures being adopted to safeguard ships crew. In addition the IBF agreed to “write as a matter of urgency to the Nigerian authorities urging them to increase security in port areas and approaches”. As well as write to the authorities in the Philippines “to seek clarification of the most recent Advisory Notice concerning deployments to ships in the liner trade”.

The IBF concluded: “The security situation in Nigeria should be closely monitored and in the event of any deterioration that could affect seafarers serving on deep sea merchant ships these Guidelines should be reviewed and amended as necessary.”

Communities call for re-opening of Sapele Port

THE continued closure of the Sapele Port may soon become an issue capable of disrupting public peace, as some communities in the area insist that the closure had begun to take severe toll on their economic well being. The people observably seem to be enjoying the overwhelming support of the traditional institution, particularly the Oroje of the kingdom.

Said to be particularly affected, the Okpeuvwie communities in Delta State have already embarked on mild protests, threatening to intensify it, if the port presently occuppied by the Nigerian Navy, was not urgently re-opened for business activities. The Navy has however warned against a sudden re-opening, calling attention to the security implication of such gesture, when the terrain had not been adequately secured.

The navy has established and run its engineering college there, in the last 23 years; investing resources on manpower development in the area.. Informed sources told the Nigerian Tribune that as part of their efforts to re-open the seaport, the communities have embarked on rallying their people round so as to send petitions to both the National Assembly and the Presidency on why the Nigerian Navy should discontinue its domineering presence in the port, after so many years.

It was perhaps for this reason that the communities in the area only last week Monday, welcomed members of the House of Representatives Committee on Marine Transport on a facility tour of the Sapele seaport with protests, as hundreds of youths lamenting dwindling employment opportunities and business prospects took to the streets blaming their woes on the take-over of the port by the Nigerian Navy Engineering College in 1985.

Some of their displayed cards read: “the people of Sapele are eager to see Sapele port functioning”; “opening of Sapele port will give our youths employment”; “Sapele port can work side by side with the Naval school”. Echoeing his people’s views later, the Orodje of Okpe Kingdom, Gen. Felix Mujakperuo (Rtd), told the legislators in his palace that if the port was resuscitated, the operators would enjoy the peaceful atmosphere of the communities, adding that port users will particularly enjoy the traditional hospitality of the monarch.

The Orodje observed that the seaport had been in existence before independence and serving the former Mid-Western State in exportation of agricultural products like cocoa, rubber and timber to Europe, while manufactured goods were also coming into the port from Europe and other parts of the world.

“It will please me and my people if the port is resuscitated and if people are employed as this will reduce militancy in Niger Delta”, he said further, pointing out that even with the occupation of the Navy, a lot of the facilities at the port remained unused, a development he described as “another waste of government facilities not being put into use”.

Meanwhile, the Vice-Chairman of Sapele Local Government, Major Musa Jarikre (Rtd) has appealled to the National Assembly to assist in re-activating the port, stressing that the gesture would no doubt boost employment and bring a stop to youths’ restiveness.

The House of Representatives mandated the Committee on Marine Transport to embark on a facility tour of the port to ascertain its level of utilisation and abandonment; sequel to a motion brought by Hon. Joyce Overah from Okpe/Sapele/Uvwie Federal Constituency in Jan 2008, that the port had been closed for normal business activities due to its conversion to a Naval College.

Overah said that major facilities at the port had been left to waste, pointing out that only a fifth of the area had been occupied by the Navy college. He noted that the conversion of the seaport to a Naval base by the administration of General Ibrahim Babangida (Rtd) had led to huge unemployment problem in the area.

The Commandant of the Nigerian Naval Engineering College, Rear Admiral Ifeolu Oyelade however told the legislators that the college was relocated to the seaport in 1985 and commissioned as ``NNS Uriahpele’’. Oyelade explained that since then, the college had produced high quality engineers and technicians (650 officers and 3,200 ratings trained) for the Nigerian Navy, 20 Ghanaian Navy artificers and other Nigerians through the seven schools in the college.

The Commandant said that it was not true that the facilities at the seaports had been left to waste, noting that enormous sums of money had been invested to transform the structures to a first class training institution.

Rear Admiral Oyelade also said that it was a mis-information that the college had been relocated to Oghara town. “The thinking in some quarters about changing the status quo has some national security implication. Firstly, it is not ideal to co-locate a civilian port with a military establishment for obvious security reasons’’, Rear Admiral Oyelade said.

The Chairman of the Committee, Hon, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, noted that the House Committee would have to take the technical inputs of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) before making its recommendations on the seaport to the larger house for a final decision to be taken.

We are also going to consider national security, the interest of the communities for creation of jobs and the development of the area, Ugwuanyi added. He said that at the end of the day the House of Representatives would do justice to the matter, in line with the tenets of democracy.

Ugwuanyi assured the people that his Committee was prepared to take the maritime sector of the economy to the next level.