Nigeria seeks removal of war risk insurance on inbound vessels

The Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh, has said that the agency is seeking the removal of War Risk Insurance on Nigerian-bound vessels.

Jamoh, who stated this, said Nigeria did not record an incidence of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG), in the second quarter.

According to him, the agency will focus on creating awareness while also seeking the international community’s support for the review of the high freight rate occasioned by the war risk insurance.

“It may interest you to know that by the end of this quarter, which is the end of June, we would have recorded another milestone as we are yet to record a single attack or incident of maritime insecurity on our waters. Therefore, we will keep advocating for the total removal of War Risk Insurance by the international community, so that Nigerians can benefit from that,”Jamoh stated.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has charged coastal states to take the issue of piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) very seriously for the sake of achieving safety for vessels.

In a new security resolution on maritime security in the GoG, the UN agency said it resolved after a decade to renew attention on the issue of piracy in the region.

According to the UNSC, the primary responsibility of the coastal states of GoG is to counter piracy and armed robbery in the region as a priority.

The UNSC also urged member states to ensure that piracy and armed robbery at sea become criminal offences in their domestic laws.

According to Ghana’s ambassador to the United Nations, Harold Agyeman, piracy constitutes one of the foremost security concerns on the African continent.

He said piracy compounds the multifaceted challenges facing the region, including a surge in terrorism, a return of the coup d’états and the worsening impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.