The Deputy Commandant, Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Jaji, Rear Admiral Mustapha Hassan, has called for the delineation of all agencies with prosecuting powers in the maritime domain.
Hassan said this was necessary to enhance security in Nigeria’s maritime area.
The deputy commandant made the suggestion on Tuesday at a seminar organised by the college’s Department of Maritime Warfare for participants of Senior Course 45 on Law of the Sea.
The theme of the seminar is ‘Curbing Maritime Crimes Through Enhanced Inter-agency Collaboration’.
Hassan said that the duties and engagements of prosecuting agencies working around the maritime sector must be outlined distinctively for effective security and administration.
According to him, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, among other agencies, encounter issues when it comes to prosecution of cases in the maritime domain despite having the powers.
He added that there were also some international laws in the maritime domain which needed to be domesticated to further enhance security and proper administration.
Hassan explained that the AFCSC, being a military think tank of the nation, would proffer solutions to some of the issues, including legal angle of interagency collaboration.
He urged the students to be constructive and advance fresh ideas for the development of the nation’s maritime domain.
Earlier, Commodore Muhseen Abba, the Director, Department of Maritime Warfare, AFCSC, said the seminar would proffer ways to foster Nigeria’s maritime safety and security.
He said that the target of the seminar was to find ways to optimise the potentials of the nations’ blue economy, in which the Nigerian Navy was a major stakeholder.
“The navy, being the lead security agency in Nigeria’s maritime domain, recognises the need for regular interaction and collaboration with other maritime stakeholders for enhanced safety and security of Nigeria’s maritime environment within the ambit of the law.
“Whenever there are issues that can threaten the exploration and exploitation of the resources in the maritime domain, the search for answers lies in the integration of ideas from the key players in the maritime sector,” he said.
According to him, the seminar is specially packaged to focus on key issues capable of altering the security architecture in Nigeria’s maritime environment and the country’s economic prosperity.
“The department of maritime warfare envisioned the Law of the Sea Seminar as a means of leveraging the laws of the sea for enhanced Nigerian Navy maritime operations to improve Nigeria’s economy,” he said.
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