Follow Us on Google
By Steve Agbota
The Director- General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh, has said that sea piracy has declined drastically by 80 per cent on the nation’s territorial waters.
Jamoh stated this during a courtesy visit by Executive Members of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Lagos State Council led by the Chairman, Mr. Adeleye Ajayi, to the NIMASA headquarters in Lagos, decried $783 million that had been lost to piracy in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG). “We have recorded a drastic reduction in piracy and this is enough for us to beat our chest and that we are ready to return to the category ‘C’ of membership of International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
“However, the year 2021 has witnessed a significant turnaround under my leadership as insecurity on Nigerian waters had reduced by 80 per cent,” he said.
According to him, the last time the country had a drop in piracy in the nation’s waterways was in 1994, adding that Nigerian waterways was one of the top 10 safest waters in the world.
“This achievement was enough reason to sensitise and inform the international community that the Nigerian waterways was now safe than ever before, as Nigeria must take its rightful position among comity of nations globally. “We want the cost of Insurance Premium paid by Nigerians as a result of insecurity to be reconsidered as insecurity in the country’s waterways had drastically reduced, ” he added.
However, The NUJ Chairman, Ajayi assured NIMASA of regular publicity as well as robust relationship between Lagos Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists and NIMASA. He lauded NIMASA for giant strides it had achieved in the maritime sector which included safeguarding of Nigeria’s waterways, collaboration with sister agencies of government as well as donations worth millions of naira to the Internally Displaced Persons’(IDPs) camps and victims of disaster in the country.
