.Stakeholders canvass creation of response zone transit corridors

Two years after ex-President, Muhammadu Buhari cancelled the controversial Secure Anchorage Area (SAA) contract and introduced the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure also known as the Deep Blue Project (DBP), a vessel pays $50, 000 for security services on Nigerian waters.

The Guardian learnt that every shipping company’s vessel calling into Nigeria waters pays $10,000 per day to each security patrol boat escorting it into the country. Further revelation revealed that a vessel pays for three days ($30,000) when coming in and two days ($20,000) when leaving, totalling $50,000.

Before now, the SSA contract operated by Ocean Marine Solutions Limited (OMSL), in partnership with the Nigerian Navy, provided security services to foreign vessels calling at the Apapa and Tin Can Island ports at $2,500 per day.

A former director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Temisan Omatseye, while speaking at the maiden edition of the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN) yearly lecture held in Lagos, explained that during the SSA contract, vessels paid $2,500 for security services when they come into the area, while every other day was $1,500.

He said a vessel, which is not likely to stay for 10 days at the port, could likely spend $10,000, unlike $50,000 being paid now, noting that the high charges are adding to the cost of goods landing in the country.

Delivering a paper centred on the theme of the conference, ‘Maritime Security: Emerging Threats and Actionable Steps’, Omatseye said the SAA was part of the charter party agreement the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) signed with every vessel coming into the country, noting that since its stoppage, the cost of security services has gone up astronomically.

According to him, the deep blue project was meant to replace the SAA contract and provide the same service, even as he urged the Federal Government to take up this service and offer it for free or at a much-subsidised cost to protect the waters and reduce the cost of doing business.

Omatseye proposed a response zone transit corridor (RZTC) concept to create a patrolled transit corridor for adequate security and protection of visiting vessels in the key areas of the nation’s exclusive zone (EEZ).

The former NIMASA boss said it would be a 110 nautical miles long corridor to support vessels moving in and out of Lagos, Bonny and others.

The Executive Director of Operations and Technical of Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, Captain Warredi Enisuoh, in his paper presentation, said maritime insecurity in the GoG has forced foreign merchant vessels visiting Nigeria to convert into warships for defence against piracy attacks.

Enisuoh, who is a former Director at NIMASA, said nearly every flag has adopted this method as there is hardly a merchant ship that is not armed coming into Nigerian waters.

He said some of the ships stopover in Ghana to load their arms before coming into Nigeria water, noting that this is the reason for the lull in piracy, sea robberies, kidnap and ransom.

His submission contradicted the impression of the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure, also known as the Deep Blue Project (DBP) being solely responsible for the curtailment of the attacks.

At the panel session, the President of the Nigerian Association of Master Mariners (NAMM), Captain Tajudeen Alao, observed that while maritime crime is a big business locally and globally, there must be a deliberate political will from the government to eliminate the menace.

Alao canvassed the formation of strong legislation and an efficient judicial system to achieve a firm, purposeful and real-time deterrence against the prevailing regime of a corrupt and inefficient system that makes a mockery of the nation’s system and administration.

He said arresting and burning vessels with crude oil destroys the environment, ecosystem and water animals.

Alao also emphasised the detention of vessels by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) who await court proceedings and in the process of waiting, the vessel becomes a wreck, causing the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and NIMASA to spend $2 million to salvage the vessel that is not worth more than $300,000.

He said the navy cannot afford to fund maritime security or keep its ships at sea with the budget within its disposal, as it relies on NIMASA to fund most of its operations.

Also, a maritime expert, Sesan Onileimo, said the mass unemployment of youths has contributed to the increasing maritime insecurity.

He said the trained youths under the NIMASA’s National Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) abroad and those trained in the country’s maritime institutions who are all without jobs, are used as tools to perpetrate maritime crimes as long as the money is available.

Onileimo said vessels coming into Nigerian waters still pay War Risk Insurance as the waters are largely unsafe, contrary to the Navy and NIMASA’s report of Nigeria being removed from the list of countries paying war risk insurance.

He said the Navy and NIMASA have continued to compete over which agency takes the glory of the success achieved in maritime security in the country’s territorial waters.

Onileimo said, although NIMASA lacks the capacity and wherewithal to implement the responsibility assigned by its Act, the Navy takes most of the responsibility for maritime safety.

Onileimo suggested that an agency should be created specifically for maritime security in Nigeria, adding that unless this is done, NIMASA and Navy will continue to compete.

The President of the Nigerian Shipowners Association (NISA), Sola Adewunmi lamented that the NIMASA Deep Blue Assets combined with that of the Nigerian Navy and other security apparatus have not added value to maritime security because of the selfish interest of the operators on coming into their pockets.