Oluyinka Onigbinde
A foremost maritime lawyer, Barrister Osuala Emma Nwagbara, has blamed security agencies including the Nigerian courts for the low implementation of the Suppression of Piracy and other Maritime Offences act.
Recall that the SPOMO act was successfully concluded in 2019 in order to curb and deter sea piracy, armed robbery and other unlawful acts at sea.
However three years after the act was passed it has only been able to secure 23 convictions as at August this year with 10 sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, while 10 others were given seven years each. Also, three foreigners were fined for their involvement in crime within the Nigerian territorial waters.
Speaking on whether or not the SPOMO act has met up with expectations, Barr. Osuala Nwagbara on a chat with our correspondent last week noted that the act has been reduced to be a slap in the wrist of offenders as against the initial vigour to prosecute maritime offenders
Osuala lamented that it appears that there is now a complete amnesia on the part of both the court and enforcers of the law leading to the huge losses recorded in the petroleum sector, where crude oil is stolen and being lifted in both large and smaller vessels out of this country.
He said the intendment of the act is being frustrated in a number of ways adding that if the act is implemented the way it ought to, most of the offences recorded on daily basis in the Nigerian maritime domain would drastically reduced if not completely eradicated.
According to him “As the name implies, SPOMO act in its intent and purpose is a good one, It was well conceived and like all other laws in Nigeria, implementation could be a bane.
“SPOMO act gave a lot of hope and the court embraced it initially and we recorded a good number of convictions under the SPOMO Act. The intention is not to be a slap on the wrist of offenders but from the initial vigour with which the court implemented the provisions of that Act, It will appear that there is now a complete amnesia on the part of both the court and enforcers of the law. If it were not so, we wouldn’t be recording the huge losses that we see in the Petroleum sector, where our crude oil is stolen and being lifted in both large and smaller vessels out of this country. The intendment of the Act is being frustrated in a number of ways.
“The security agencies by failing to apprehend criminals on our waters are frustrating the provisions and the intendment of the Act. The Court themselves are not as hard as we expect on a few cases that we have analyzed in recent times in punishing maritime domain offenders of which the SPOMO Act was actually geared at doing and even the enforcers, we have the prosecution by EFCC as most of the prosecution are done by EFCC and maybe the office of the Attorney General of the Federation.
“Again, there is also a lull in their efforts to prosecute offenders within the maritime domain that are offences that come within the remit of SPOMO.
“Don’t forget that the act itself is known as Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences. So every offence within the maritime domain from the seaports through the territorial waters, through the adjacent waters to the contiguous zone to the Exclusive Economic Zone all of these are within the remits of SPOMO. Even up to the open seas where Nigeria’s interest is affected. Like where a vessel is running away and you pursue the vessel into another person’s country under the doctrine of pursuit, such vessels can still be prosecuted in Nigeria under the SPOMO. So it is a very comprehensive legal instrument and if it is implemented with vigour, I think that most of the offences that we record today in the Nigerian maritime domain would be drastically reduced if not completely eradicated” he said.
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