NIMASA commissions surveillance centre for enhanced maritime security

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency(NIMASA) yesterday took a determined step towards robust maritime security in Nigeria when it commissioned ultra-modern Command, Control Computer Communication Information(C4i) centre at its Resource Development Centre, Kirikiri, Lagos.

This is the operational centre of Integrated maritime Surveillance and Security infrastructure, which is the Deep Blue project of the Federal government.

Declaring open the centre, the Director-General of NIMASA, Dakuku Peterside,stated that the project portend good tidings for the Nigeria maritime space in terms of effective monitoring of the  country’s vast territorial waters.

According to Dakuku, who was represented by Gambo Ahmed, the Executive Director, Maritime Labour Services of NIMASA, the project was conceptualized by the Federal Government but driven by the  bi-ministerial collaboration of Ministries of Defence and Transportation under the supervision of the office of the National Security Adviser to the President.

Explaining the concept of C4i, Dakuku said it was meant to develop robust maritime security architecture comprising all military and security services to ensure conducive environment for maritime businesses.

‘This collaboration gave rise to integrated National Security and Waterways protection Infrastructures— the blue sea project of the Federal Government.

‘The Deep Blue project was designed as a early detection activities by identifying and analysing suspicious activity at the earliest possible moment.

‘The system does this by using a wide range of sophisticated air, marine and land assets’ Dakuku stated.

He further explained that the C4i operational centre stands as the central nerve from which all actionable information needed by another components of the project emanates.

‘The centre will serve as the base for situational intelligence for deep blue project with 40 personnel broken down into operators, intelligence officers and shift supervisors’ declared NIMASA DG.

Stakeholders believed that with the project becoming operational, Nigerian territorial waters, which have gained international notoriety for piracy and armed sea robberies, will gain appreciable level of sanity.

 The consultant of the project,  Home Land Security International(HLSI), demonstrated the workings of the project.

Any vessel within the Nigerian territorial waters which is suspected to be engaged in illegal operations such as oil theft, illegal bunkering and piracy , could easily be identified, tracked and  intercepted from the operational centre of C4i.