Even though the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, (NIMASA) recently claimed that piracy and sea robbery in the Gulf of Guinea and the nation’s territorial waters have reduced drastically, the global piracy watchdog; the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has disagreed, saying available statistics prove otherwise.
Even though the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, (NIMASA) recently claimed that piracy and sea robbery in the Gulf of Guinea and the nation’s territorial waters have reduced drastically, the global piracy watchdog; the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has disagreed, saying available statistics prove otherwise.
The IMB’s position has also been affirmed by other bodies, which disclosed penultimate week, that countries in the Gulf of Guinea, consisting mostly of Nigeria and Benin Republic have lost, not less than $100 million to oil thieves, between 2010 and now, adding that the Gulf of Guinea also witnessed over 264 piracy attacks.
The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) specifically noted, that with the increasing rate of sea crimes, gradually shifting from the coast of Somali and the Suez Canal to the the Gulf of Guinea, the zone was also gradually accounting for approximately, 20 percent of global piracy attacks.
To buttress its position,the IMB also disclosed that mid- last week that, “around 25NM SW of Bayalsea Coast, Nigeria, seven pirates armed with guns in a five meter long skiff approached and fired upon a product tanker underway. The vessel increased speed and commenced evasive manoeuvring. The pirates tried to board but because of the evasive manoeuvring the rope ladder fell into the sea resulting in the pirates aborting their attack.
It added that, about the same day, and “around 33nm SW of Bayelsa Coast, Nigeria, a speed boat with six armed pirates approached a product tanker underway. On board Nigerian naval armed security opened fire towards the pirates, who returned fire. Two pirates managed to board the vessel but remained on deck and did not enter the accommodation. The Master sent a distress signal, raised SSAS alert, informed vessels in the vicinity via VHF and contacted a nearby Nigerian naval vessel, which responded. The next morning Naval personnel boarded the vessel to investigate and search the vessel for the pirates who had boarded. The exchange of fire resulted in damage to the lifeboats, accommodation superstructure and navigation equipment. All crew safe”.
It added that also recently, “around 205nm south of Lagos, Nigeria, armed pirates in three skiffs chased and fired upon a tanker underway. The vessel was hardened as per BMP4 recommendations. Upon increasing speed and carrying out evasive manoeuvres the vessel managed to evade the attack. A mother vessel was noticed in the vicinity of the incident, crew and vessel safe.”
Subsequently, the IMB, added that, “ in taking a bird’s eye view account indicated that the West African piracy record, made up 19 percent of attacks world-wide last year, actually saw those of direct Nigerian pirates accounting for 31 of the region’s 51 attacks; becoming the most since 2008.
The records also showed that only very few pirate attacks, have however, occurred in Ghana’s territorial waters, perhaps because they were patrolled by the country’s navy with just one incident last year.
Dick Steffen, head of maritime security of the organization specifically noted also that the group had closely tracked the Gulf of Guinea, he added that there had been more targeted attacks against product carrying tankers.
“What has changed”, he said, “was the type of ships being attacked”, he highlighted, explaining that the development has led to a spike in the number of reported incidents. But he maintained that only most of the ships that were involved in international trade tend to report when they were attacked; while the pirates- typically raided local or regional vessels, whose crew had various motivations, including political ones, tend to keep quiet after being robbed; a good reason why the actual figure of the piracy attacks may remain higher, but largely unaccounted for.
As at last week, the IMB still insisted that Nigeria, Benin, Togo and the Ivory Coast as areas prone to piracyincidents in the Gulf of Guinea.
Specifically, in response to an e mail from Shipping Position Daily last week, the IMB listed Lagos, Cotonou and Lome as top pirate invested areas within the Gulf of Guinea.
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