• Thursday, March 28, 2024
businessday logo

BusinessDay

Pirate attacks threaten smallholder fishing operators in A/Ibom

fishermen

Attacks by pirates operating off the coast ofleading to the Atlantic Ocean are threatening smallholder fishing operators. The pirates are said to be using engine boats with bigger horsepower and are terrorising fishermen in Oron and Nwaniba parts of the state.

Read More :  ‘Akwa Ibom remains safe, friendly for investors’

It was gathered that the pirates, apart from robbing the fishermen of their goods, also make their victims part with their money and engine boats.

An indigene of one of the worst hit areas, who spoke on condition of anonymity, lamented that the incessant attacks by sea pirates had wrecked havoc on their businesses.

“They rob us of our engines, we get stranded and most of us would have no other choice than stay in the sea for two to three days until help finally comes our way. This week a fishermen who returned with his catch was robbed and he lost goods worth over N80,000,” he said.

Other victims, who also pleaded anonymity, said the hoodlums had made their lives miserable, saying, “These thieves have made our lives unbearable, especially those of us who go to the sea to fish or cross the borders to buy fishes in places such as Oron and Cameroon.

“These armed robbers extort money from us and kill people. I can’t forget 2017 in a hurry, women were robbed of their goods and money and this made some of us detest going to fish or to cross the borders to buy fish.

“We are trying our best but government is not trying for us here. We voted this government en masse but we in the village have been forgotten. I have seen and heard the governor visiting other markets but this has never been the case here, not even our Local Government chairman or any other person closer to government,” she cried out.

Effiong Nyong, secretary, Nwaniba Timber Buyers Association, stated, “There is a problem of piracy at the high seas most especially the sea route to Cross River State.’

He called on the Akwa Ibom and Cross River State governments to join hands to stem the ugly incident, as their lives and businesses were at risk.

A spokesman for the Akwa Ibom State police command, SP Odiko MacDon, did not respond to a text message sent to his phone on the threat posed by pirates in the state.