A master mariner; Captain Kunle Olayiwola, has urged the federal government to install Vessels Tracking Systems (VTS) on the nation’s water ways for a closer monitoring of vessels to ensure that piracy is brought to a standstill.
Olayiwola, who disclosed this while speaking with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week however lauded the President Muhammadu Buhari led federal government for appending signature to the anti-piracy bill.
He reiterated that with the installation of VTS, it will be easier to monitor ships from Nigerian waters to the exclusive zones stressing that the application must be installed from region to region.
“And also when getting to Cotonou, Ghana and Cote’d’Ivoire they should have the same system. So you will see these people when they want to operate, you can see what is happening at the Gulf of Aden, now piracy in that area has disappeared because it was well monitored, now piracy has disappeared”
Captain Olayiwoila, however charged the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to do more by inspecting the number of ships that visit their ports in collaboration with other sister agencies.
He also urged oil majors in the country to be pure to the federal government by declaring to the government the ships they are still using and the ones they are not, adding that there is need to monitor the non exclusive zones.
“So they need proper monitoring and each port also needs to monitor every vessel coming into their ports. Also NPA needs to do a lot of jobs by inspecting the number of ships visiting their ports with the other sister agency. Also the oil majors must also be pure to the nation so that any ship coming to their side or ship they use or the one they are no more using they should be able to let the authority like NIMASA, Shippers Council to know that this ship is on contract with them or not”
Speaking on the recently signed anti-piracy bill, he said that the bill will go a long way to fight piracy because there is a definition of piracy now unlike before.
“Yes, the bill will go long way because there is definition of piracy now unlike before when they are talking of territorial waters only when it has to be armed robbery, now they can go beyond territorial water and charge anyone that committed this crime even to the Economic Exclusive Zone this law can catch up with them”
He added that anybody caught will be prosecuted under the piracy act.
“So it is a good one. So that anybody caught will be prosecuted under piracy act unlike before when they had no backing of law to prosecute them, whether to call them armed robbers or something else”
“Because the way IMO defines piracy is different from the way they define armed robbery in territorial waters so you can see that I think it will go long and it will help us so that when people are caught they will be prosecuted according to the laws of the government that covers that area” he concluded.
Discussion about this post