The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr. Dakuku Peterside has assured that there would be no compromise on the agency’s anti-piracy efforts. He said this recently at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House in London, United Kingdom.
The NIMASA DG who delivered a paper at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, London titled; “The problem of maritime insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea is real…”, noted that the agency through collaboration with other relevant government bodies is leaving no stone unturned in ensuring zero tolerance to all forms of piracy and illegalities on the nation’s territorial waterways and the entire Gulf of Guinea.
The DG also noted that the Federal Government of Nigeria has adopted a multi-dimensional interventional approach to tackle the issues relating to piracy namely; legal/legislative approach; through the pushing of the enactment of the anti-piracy law, proper policy framework; through presidential intervention on maritime security to build regional coalition and corporation, regulatory and operational approach; through effective enforcement of port and flagged state control and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian Navy and Air Force to increase response capacity amongst others.
Speaking further, he also highlighted four strategic pillars NIMASA has adopted for tackling the issue of piracy tagged; “Total Spectrum Maritime Strategy” namely; situational awareness, law enforcement, response capability and regional cooperation all aimed at achieving a virile and robust maritime sector.
Dr. Peterside who is the current Chairman of the Association of African Maritime Administrations (AAMA) also assured the international community that NIMASA will continue to collaborate with other relevant bodies both locally and internationally in order to realize its vision of a prosperous maritime sector in Nigeria and the West and Central Africa Sub-Region.
While calling for continuous collaboration amongst partners across continents, the NIMASA DG noted that improved profiling and information sharing on maritime criminality and illegality, enhanced maritime domain awareness and surface to air patrol capabilities, functional legal framework, integration of national inter-agency efforts, youth empowerment programmes amongst others are factors that can help bring solutions to the issues surrounding insecurity in the maritime space.
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