• Thursday, March 28, 2024
businessday logo

BusinessDay

HLSI contract to fight maritime insecurity, curb revenue leakage – Amaechi

HLSI contract to fight maritime insecurity, curb revenue leakage – Amaechi
Minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, says the Federal Ministry of Transport through the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) recently entered into a maritime security contract with an Israeli firm, HLSI Systems, to put an end to issues around piracy and other irregularities on the nation’s waters.
The contract, he said, will put an end to revenue leakages caused by security challenges and other illegal activities on Nigerian waters.
Speaking in Lagos on Tuesday at a stakeholders’ interactive session with shipping companies on the issues and progress in the sector, Amaechi said criminals must be chased out of Nigerian territorial waters to make the waterways safe and attractive for foreign investment.
“The Federal Government is committed to this project, hence the need to collaborate with HLSI Systems in this way,” the minister said.
According to Amaechi, the maritime security contract will allow for all vessels plying Nigerian territorial water to be identified and monitored from point to point throughout the period of their stay in Nigeria in order to ascertain all their activities in Nigeria.
During the session, the representatives of HLSI Systems Limited gave detailed presentation, on the theme, ‘Establishment of an Integrated National Security and Waterway Protection Infrastructure in Nigeria – Deep Blue Project’ in which the company reviewed the progress recorded in both the areas of procurement of maritime security assets as well as the human capacity aspect involving training of Nigerians on effective manning of the waters.
Till date, C4I Systems Operator, Intelligence Systems Operator and Basic Infantry training courses have been successfully conducted with well-trained graduates emerging from those programmes while a timetable for the delivery of maritime security assets was laid out in the course of the presentation.
An overview of the Deep Blue Project reveals the system as providing a 360-degree, eagle-eye view of Nigeria’s maritime domain thereby equipping NIMASA (as the Designated Authority) with comprehensive and real time information on every activity conducted by vessels within Nigerian waters.