The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has said it has deployed a search and rescue operation to recover the five abducted crew of a Liberian flagged oil tanker; MT Sampatiki.
The agency also said it is working together with INTERPOL Regional Bureau, the United Nation’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Nigerian Navy, as well as the maritime agencies of Togo and Benin Republic to ensure that the abducted crew were rescued.
The MT Sampatiki was attacked on 26th of March 2016 by dare devil pirates operating from the Niger Delta, precisely offshore Escravos.
According to security reports obtained by Shipping Position Daily and published last week, eight pirates had boarded the MT Sampatiki after midnight and remained onboard the vessel for four hours after which they departed the ship with five crew members as hostages. The captives are officers and one engineer.
However, speaking at a press briefing in Lagos last weekend, Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside said NIMASA has deployed its satellite facility in conjunction with the intelligence of the Nigerian Navy and was able to track the vessel to offshore Lome, Togo.
He assured that NIMASA’s operational vessels manned by military personnel of the Maritime Guard Command (MGC) have been deployed to enforce security and guarantee 24-hour patrol of Nigeria’s territorial waters, especially off the coast of Qua Iboe and Brass in Niger Delta where incidences of piracy arerampant.
The NIMASA boss disclosed that while the search for the abducted crew members has intensified, there have not been any contact with the abducted crew nor any ransom demanded yet from the abductors.
In the meantime, Peterside said the agency is forwarding an anti-piracy bill to the National Assembly in order to fight incidences of piracy to a standstill.
Briefing newsmen, he said “MT Sampatiki arrived at Port Harcout port on March 21st 2016 to load Gas Oil; it was briefly detained by our surveyors before it was allowed to sail on March 24th”
“The government was informed of this attack on March 26th and immediately, the Minister of Transport; Rotimi Amaechi Directed NIMASA to investigate the incident that led to the abducted crew and the vessel with immediate effect, he directed that whatever resources at our disposal should be deployed to ensure we locate the vessel and safeguard the crew” he said.
He said that shortly before the briefing, Togolese authority were boarding the vessel to interview the crew members to get useful information that could lead to the location and rescue of the other crew members.
Peterside said NIMASA has commenced the process of reviewing her Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Air force for continued coastal patrol and air surveillance to deter criminals and to ensure quicker response time when incidents occur.
He assured that Nigeria has the capacity to guarantee security of its maritime domain and that NIMASA will not rest on its oars in achieving this.
The NIMASA DG however observed that there is a conflict of roles between the functions of the Navy and NIMASA and that a line must be drawn between the two.
While acknowledging that NIMASA work with the military authorities, he said that, “manning of our waterways is a primary function of the Navy and not the function of NIMASA, our responsibility is to ensure safe passage of ships on our waterways, it is not the same thing as securing our waters, they are two different things”
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