Deep Blue: NIMASA seeks funding to sustain security on Nigerian waters

After investing about $200 million in safeguarding Nigeria’s territorial waters through the implementation of the Deep Blue project, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), has called on the Federal Government to review the modalities for raising the funding needed to sustain the safety of the nation’s waterway.

According to NIMASA, the cost of keeping the personnel operating the Deep Blue assets alone is already impacting heavily on the maritime agency.

Speaking in Abuja recently during the 2022 CIOTA Summit, Bashir Jamoh, the director general of the NIMASA, said the essence of the NIMASA’s investment in the Deep Blue Project was to improve security in Nigeria’s waters and to reduce the payment of war risk insurance by ships and cargo coming to Nigerian Ports.

He said NIMASA has invested over $200 million in acquiring assets for the implementation of the Deep Blue Project.

He however said the cost of maintaining the deep blue project is huge and NIMASA alone cannot bear the cost.

Jamoh, who was represented by Chudi Offodile, executive director, Finance and Administration, listed the assets acquired by NIMASA to include vessels, unmanned aerial vehicles, helicopters, satellite systems, armoured vehicles, and speed boats among others.

He said the agency also invested heavily in training over 600 military personnel to operate the Deep Blue Project.

“The NIMASA investment in the Deep Blue Project has become cost-effective for Nigeria and is yielding positive results as the International Maritime Bureau recently declared Nigerian waters pirate attack-free,” Jamoh said.

The NIMASA boss said the agency is focused on ensuring that the successes recorded in implementing the Deep Blue Project are sustainable.

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According to him, the agency has made moves to ensure international ships coming to Nigeria remove the war risk insurance on Nigerian-bound cargo, but the International Maritime Organization has insisted that the success in reducing piracy must be sustained for that to happen.

Recently, it was gathered that the Federal Government approved the deployment of the Deep Blue project to the security vulnerable areas of the northern parts of the country to curb terrorism.

This, the NIMASA boss said, is the reason the government needs to work out the funding mechanism to sustain the safety and security of the waterways.

Similarly, Jamoh also called on major insurance companies around the world and Lloyd of London to stop the collection of the War Risk Insurance premium on Nigerian-bound cargoes.

According to him, Nigeria deserves the international insurance companies’ consideration of removing the war risk insurance from vessels and goods destined for Nigeria.

The NIMASA boss further said that since the inception of the deep blue project, Nigeria has maintained zero pirate attacks, adding that the two recent pirate incidents on Nigerian waters were unsuccessful.

Jamoh said the imposition of the war risk insurance on all Nigerian-bound cargoes has been a blow to the economy and has been impacting negatively on the cost of goods.

“Nigeria is an import-dependent country, it is either what we consume is imported or the materials for making them are imported. Therefore, such insurance premium which is a penalty for the insecurity on our waters has been translating into the high cost of goods in the market,” he added.

On his part, Innocent Ogwude, the deputy vice chancellor of the Maritime University of Nigeria, Okerenkoko in Delta State, said at the CIoTA Summit that achieving safety in Nigerian inland waters is about risk reduction.

He said if the waterway is free, goods and services will move freely, and the cost would be reduced.

According to him, Nigeria needs to spend money to deploy technology to track security threats on the waters because spending to build security on waterways shows how the country values human lives.