NIMASA DG Appointed Into APC Reconciliation Committee amid Rising Pirate Attacks

ABIOLA Seun

The Director General of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr Dakuku Peterside has been appointed a member into the National Peace and Reconciliation Committees for the South West geo-political zone amid rising pirate attacks on the nation’s territorial water.

The Nigerian territorial water has been under several attacks with the management of NIMASA bereft of working solutions to stem the ugly  tide which has made Nigerian water dreadful.

In the first three months of 2018, 100 crew were taken hostage and 14 kidnapped from their vessels. A total of 39 vessels were boarded, 11 fired upon and four vessels hijacked. This has been a reoccurring challenge for many years.

For many years now the Nigerian waterways have remained in the unenviable category of most porous in the world. According to the IMO report for first and second quarters of 2018, Nigeria ranks top in countries with the highest number of recorded attacks against vessels.

Nigeria alone accounted for a total of 22 of the 45 attacks recorded in the first three months of 2018. Officially, Nigeria has displaced the war torn country of Somalia, which is notorious for sea piracy, in the shameful category of countries with unsafe waterways. Surprisingly, the notorious Somalia waters did not record any incident in Q2’18.

The report concludes that out of the 46 incidents recorded in Gulf of Guinea region so far in the year, 31 of those incidents were logged from Nigeria’s territorial waters alone. In other words, Nigeria alone was responsible for 67.39 per cent of the total piracy incidents recorded in the Gulf of Guinea in the year 2018 so far.

The report further reveals that whilst the incidence of crew kidnappings has reduced worldwide, all the 25 crew members that were kidnapped in the first half of the year from six incidents in the Gulf of Guinea were off the coast of Nigeria.

As a result of these notorious attacks, Nigeria now occupies the infamous category with Indonesia, Bangladesh, Venezuela and Benin Republic that are the leading countries in the number of attempted attacks, number of vessels boarded by pirates, number of vessels fired upon, number of hijacked vessels and number of suspicious boats operated by pirates.

This report is an indictment on the safety of Nigerian waterways with a huge potential to create a negative perception of the country in the global maritime arena.

But, in a statement by Malam Lanre Issa-Onilu, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, on Monday in Abuja, said in recognition of the need to address the post-primary elections disputes in the party, the party’s National Chairman, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, would inaugurate the committees on Wednesday.

The full composition of the committee for each zone:

SOUTH-WEST

Gov. Kashim Shettima – Chairman

Gov. Nasir el Rufai

Gov. Akinwumi Ambode

Sen. Ken Nnamani

Prof. Modupe Adelabu

Dr Dakuku Peterside

Sen. Seida Bugaje

NORTH-WEST

Gov. Abiola Ajimobi – Chairman

Gov. Mohammed Abubakar

Gov. Yahaya Bello

Sen. Adamu Aliero

Sen. Danjuma Goje

Sen. Jim Nwobodo

Amb. Fati Balla

SOUTH-EAST

Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje – Chairman

Gov. Samuel Lalong

Gov. Kayode Fayemi

Sen. Godswill Akpabio

Alh. Umaru Dembo

Alh. Nasiru Koki

Mrs. Ify Okoye

NORTH-CENTRAL

Gov. Ibrahim Geidam – Chairman

Gov. Godwin Obaseki

Gov. Rotimi Akeredolu

Gov. Jibrilla Bindow

Chief Pius Akinyelure

Barr. (Mrs) Vivian Chukwuani

Chief Audu Ogbe

SOUTH-SOUTH

Gov. Rauf Aregbesola – Chairman

Gov. Atiku Bagudu

Gov. Abubakar Bello

Sen. Gbemisola Saraki

Mr Emeka Wogu

Mr Sullivan Chime

Mrs Aleluchi Cookey-Gam

NORTH-EAST

Gov. Tanko Al-Makura – Chairman

Gov. Aminu Masari

Gov. Abubakar Badaru

Chief (Mrs) Jumoke Anifowoshe

Mr Matthew Omegara

Hajia Hafsat Baba

Gen. Abdullahi Aboki

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