Following the recent attack and abduction of crew onboard a tanker vessel named, ‘Nave Constellation’, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) said on Thursday in Abuja that it’s working with relevant partners to ensure the crew onboard the vessel are safe and secured.
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Dakuku Peterside, director general of the NIMASA, who disclosed this in Abuja on Thursday, on the sideline of the ongoing National Transportation Summit organised by the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria (CIoTA), said the agency is ready to fast-track the maritime security architecture to ensure security on Nigerian waters.
He stated that the tanker was attacked off the coast of Bonny with 19 persons alleged to have been picked up, leaving nine crew members on board the vessel.
“The operators of the vessel made contact with NIMASA and the Nigerian Navy and we immediately went to work,” he said.
He noted that the vessel owners had operated for 10 days, within our territorial waters yet didn’t establish contact with the Harbour Masters and authorities in Nigeria.
“However, that isn’t an issue because life is more precious than any other consideration. We have also immediately contacted the naval unit around that area and they have gone to work. The Navy has established contact with the remaining crew members on board the vessel and the nine persons on board the vessel are safe and the vessel is safe,” Peterside said.
Lamenting that this happened at a time that efforts are being put together to make Nigerian waterways safe, he gave the assurance that the agency will not rest on its oars.
“This would ultimately serve as catalyst for us to fast-track what we are doing to safeguard our waterways so that commerce can thrive and people can do economic activities without fear or hindrance,” he said.
While sympathising with the victims and their families for the ordeal and challenges of being kidnapped, he urged every concerned citizen and stakeholders to come together and work with NIMASA and other relevant security agencies to end the menace pirate attacks on Nigerian waters.
Recall that Nigeria recently hosted a Global Maritime Security Conference (GMSC) where several engagement was held with stakeholders from all over the world, on the global maritime scale.
This was targeted at enhancing collaboration among maritime nations in order to find a lasting solution to the security issues on the Gulf of Guinea and Nigeria as well.
