• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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NIMASA commissions security centre to enhance safe shipping

NIMASA

As part of its efforts towards restoring the confidence of ships calling Nigerian ports, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has launched its Command, Control Computer Communication and Information (C41) operation centre.

The centre, which houses the C4I system, also known as the Deep Blue Project, is expected to eliminate, or reduce the scourge of piracy and other criminalities in the Gulf of Guinea, particularly in the Nigerian maritime domain, and consequently reduce or totally eliminate the war risk insurance premium charge on Nigeria-bound cargo.

Speaking at the official launch in Lagos over the weekend, Dakuku Peterside, director-general of NIMASA, said while the Gulf of Guinea holds a significant percentage of the world’s total oil and gas reserves and a rich deposit of natural resources, Nigeria accounts for about 70 percent of the maritime economic activities in the region.

Represented by Gambo Ahmed, executive director, Maritime Labour and Cabotage Services of NIMASA, Peterside said Nigeria also has “the highest number of port calls in the region and over 5,000 ship calls, comprising product tankers, crude oil tankers, LNG carriers and general cargo vessels and tankers operating in its exclusive economic zone annual.”

He said the region had become a source of concern to the international community due to high level of insecurity, with the Nigerian maritime domain the most hit, as insecurity became a major deterrent to existing and prospective businesses.

“Therefore, combative steps must be taken to eradicate these cancerous elements that can sap business confidence in the country, with Nigeria’s economic life-wire depending strongly on its Exclusive Economic Zone and the Gulf of Guinea due to the volume of economic activities that take place in the region,” he said.

Peterside added that the project was designed as an early detection coastal security system to prevent illegal activities by identifying and analysing suspicious activities at the earliest possible moment, using a wide range of sophisticated air, marine and land assets.

“The C4I Operational Centre stands as the central nerve from which all actionable information needed by all other components of the project emanate. The centre will serve as the base for situational intelligence for the Deep Blue Project, with 40 personnel broken into operators, intelligence officers and shift supervisors manning the centre,” he explained.
A simulated operation was demonstrated at the launch by the Israeli firm, Home Land Security International (HLSI), while NIMASA assured that having formerly commenced operations, the C4I system would subsequently deploy the full complement of the sophisticated air, marine and land assets listed as part of the project, including fast-moving vessels and aircraft.

He charged the operators, intelligence officers and shift supervisors to realise that the success of the centre depends largely on them as the project’s coordinating centre of operations, thus the need for “high commitment, discipline and most importantly, team play.”

 

AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE