Just like the ‘blood diamonds’, African nations have agreed to ensure that international communities put mechanisms in place to ban resources that are illegally explored in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) region, from being sold in any market in the world.
Crude oil theft and illegal fishery in the GoG region, no doubt, has created massive economic hardship for nations in the West and Central Africa region as resources that ought to create jobs and wealth for populace in these countries are illegally taken away.
According to these nations, international communities need to put deliberate policies in place to ensure there would not be any market for stolen oil, illegal unreported and unregulated fishery.
This was part of the resolutions as contained in the communique from the just concluded Global Maritime Security Conference 2019, which held in Abuja from Monday to Wednesday.
Explaining the position of the communique, Dakuku Peterside, director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), said there were already established international frameworks for which stolen diamonds are treated as ‘blood diamond’.
“We want international communities to apply those frameworks to stolen crude, stolen fish taken from our waters illegally and in an unregulated manner. There is also the Port State agreement, which of course, treats illegal unreported and unregulated fishing like blood diamond,” he said.
The chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, who was represented by Rear Admiral Begroy Ibe-Enwo, Chief of Policy and Plans, Naval headquarters, said there had been a conspiracy theory that illegal fishing in African waters is an internationally organised crime.
He said the recommendation was aimed at ensuring that the international communities discourage their own people from participating in such illegal activities.
“As for the patrol efforts, the Nigerian Navy has a trinity of action that we are reinforcing by the day. The first leg of that action is surveillance, which revolves around what is called maritime domain awareness.
According to him, for countries in the region to improve on their maritime domain awareness, there is a need for platforms like ships and helicopters to be used in patrolling the waterways in order to have complete view of all the activities on the high sea.
“It will interest you to know that the navy is able to see what is going on out there at sea around Lagos and Calabar and other shore centres. After seeing what is going on at sea, what is the next thing? You need to deploy your platforms to arrest or interdict these suspects,” he suggested.
He said that prosecution was one area the Nigerian Navy was still building capacity on because there is not enough ships to patrol the entire waters that need to be policed.
He further said that there are some legal instruments that have clear recommendations on how to treat those who are culpable for maritime crimes. “All we (Nigerian Navy) want is to be able to enforce the international regulations and conventions,” he said.
He however said that more ships were being bought by the government in addition to some other levels of collaborations. “Even a fishery department is coming on board fully now. Two ships are going to join us very soon and they will be dedicated to anti-fishing operations.
Meanwhile, it was also agreed that GoG States should explore the possibility of establishing maritime courts to handle cases of sea robbery, piracy and other maritime offences.
This, they say, will ensure quick dispensation of cases in addition to capacity building and sensitisation of judiciary on crucial relevant legislation.
“GoG States should put more efforts to implement various agreed strategies at the continental, regional and national levels,” the communique stated.
It was also agreed that GoG countries should explore alternative and innovative sources of funding for their maritime security and law enforcement agencies to enhance the effectiveness of their response to maritime incidents.
The participants also urged the GoG States to establish repeatable, documentable frameworks for interagency cooperation.
“GoG States with the support of regional organisations like the ECOWAS, ECCAS, ICC and relevant international organisations should continue to ratify and fully domesticate the provisions of the relevant international conventions including UNCLOS 1982, SUA and Port States Measures Agreement,” it further suggested.
AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE & STELLA ENENCHE in Abuja
