At least two ship Captains have been confirmed killed in the past two weeks by sea robbers in a renewed attacks on ships within Nigeria’s territorial waters, raising doubts about the efficacy of current initiatives of both the Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).The development has again made the Nigerian Fishing Trawler Owners Association (NITOA) to raise alarm and call for adequate monitoring of the nation’s waterways.The latest attacks which also resulted into one ship master being thrown
overboard reportedly occurred at different times at both the Bonny Oil Terminal and at Andoni, in Rivers State. Confirming the attacks to Shipping Position Weekly, the executive secretary of NITOA, Dr M.C. Bisong disclosed that apart from the two captains, many crew members sustained varying degrees
of injuries after the piracy attacks. Dr Bisong who expressed surprise about the whereabouts of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) and the apparatuses of both Navy and NIMASA disclosed that on Nigerian water, the pirates are kings. According to him, fishing trawler owners do not feel the impact of any Nigeria security agency or even NIMASA while the attacks on their vessels and crew are going on. He declared that the essence of commissioning the Regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (RMRCC0 by NIMASA has not been felt even as he lamented that ship owners and the crew are at the mercy of militants and sea robbers.
Discussion about this post