Dr. Bashir Jamoh, Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), delivering the Keynote Address at the 3rd Atlantic Centre Conference in Lisbon, Portugal |
Speaking at the third Seminar of the Atlantic Center in
Lisbon Portugal on Tuesday, Jamoh sought support of Nigeria’s friends to vote
for the country into the council of IMO in the election that comes up in few
weeks time.
He said: “We ask for your vote and count on your continued
confidence in the efforts of Nigeria to work in partnership with other nation
states in the Gulf of Guinea to continue keeping our corridor of the Atlantic
Ocean a safe passage for seafarers, their vessels and the vital supplies they
transport for our common sustenance”.
The DG who also requested removal of Nigeria by the global
shipping community from designation as a war risk zone which causes increased
insurance premium, also explained recent efforts by the Federal Government to
make the country’s waters safer for crew members, vessels and cargoes.
He added that deployment of security vessels on waters
adjoining the Atlantic Ocean should be in line with international laws without
undermining the national sovereignty of countries within West and Central
Africa.
Jamoh said “In 2018,
Nigeria initiated a project known as Integrated National Security and Waterways
Protection Infrastructure (Deep Blue Project), as a robust tool to combat
piracy, armed robbery, and other maritime crimes within Nigeria’s territorial
waters and by extension the Gulf of Guinea (GoG).
In a statement sent and endorsed by Osagie Edward, Assistant Director, Public
Relations in the Agency saying to further bolster Nigeria’s effort in fighting
crimes at sea, the government signed into law the Suppression of Piracy and
Other Maritime Offences Act, (SPOMO) 2019. This piece of legislation gave
effect in Nigeria to the provisions of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the
Sea (UNCLOS) 1982 on piracy and the International Convention on the Suppression
of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Navigation (SUA), 1998 and its protocol.
Since the law came into effect, convictions of at least 20 pirates have been
secured under the Act with offenders currently serving various jail terms.
DG NIMASA, Dr Bashir Jamoh presents maritime memorabilia to João Titterington Gomes Cravinho, the Portuguese Defence Minister at the Atlantic Centre Conference in Lisbon |
“Further to this, Nigeria together with the ICC Yaoundé is
engaged with the major international shipping industry and commodities groups
(INTERTANKO, INTERCARGO, ICS, OCIMF, BIMCO) to develop a framework known as the
Gulf of Guinea, Maritime Collaboration Forum on Shared Awareness and
Deconfliction i.e. GoG-MCF/SHADE.
“The framework is a multilateral initiative involving
industry stakeholders and member countries in West and Central Africa and the
Gulf of Guinea on Information sharing and incident reporting, Cooperation at
Sea, and Air De-confliction. The G7++ FOGG is another multinational
collaboration with regional countries on Maritime Security in the Gulf of
Guinea.
“Whilst multilateral and multinational collaboration and cooperation
are desirable for maintaining safety and security of not only the Atlantic but
the entire oceans and seas of the planet Earth, however, such must be done
within the complex web of international relations and diplomacy so as not to
undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of any country, big or
small.
“Therefore, while appreciating the principle of ‘Mare
Liberum’, a unilateral declaration by private entities to deploy warships to
the waters contiguous to the Atlantic seas of West Africa is not amenable to
good international relations. Likewise, the idea of Coordinated Maritime
Presence (CMP) scheme, used by some countries to deploy frigates to the
Atlantic oceans of West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea should be with the
consent and agreement of the countries within the sub-continent in line with
international laws and as a mark of respect for the dignity of their people and
the sovereignty of their nations.
“At the continental level, Nigeria is a party to the Charter
on Maritime Security and Safety and Development in Africa signed in September
2016 in Lomé, Togo (Lomé Charter). One of the objectives of the charter is to
prevent and suppress national and transnational crime, including terrorism,
piracy, armed robbery against ships, drug trafficking, smuggling of migrants,
trafficking in persons, and all other kinds of trafficking through the sea and
IUU fishing”.
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