NPA to acquire more Patrol boats to check attacks on berthed vessels … as Navy acquires 179 speed boats in one year

Tayo Oladipupo |

Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has promised to acquire more Patrol boats for patrol of the waterfronts as check against the incessant attacks on vessels at berth at the Lagos Port Complex (LPC)

The Agency also called on the management of ENL Consortium, operators of terminals D and E, where such attacks are rampant to check its internal security to avoid complicity.

The Managing Director of NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman who said this at a stakeholders’forum in Lagos,added, “ ENL should also increase its operational vehicle patrols as this could help to detect and forestall attacks at the berths”.

The MD promised to bring the ugly trend to an end even as she promised that the Agency would tackle the menace headlong.

The NPA boss who was represented at the forum by the Executive Director, Marine and Operations, NPA, Mr. Sekonte Davis, said some strategies are being put in place and that the strategies when reinforced, would bring to book those behind the attacks on vessels berthing at LPC.

In a related development, the Nigerian Navy said it acquired 179 high speed boats in one year in its fight against insecurity in the Nigerian territorial Waters with 42 vessels arrested for oil theft within the period.

The Chief of Naval Transformation, Naval Headquarters, Rear Admiral Begroy Ibe-Enwo told newsmen that six of the boats were ocean fast patrol brands that will soon be launched.

Ibe-Enwo said, ”The Nigerian Navy recently acquired six OCEAN Fast Patrol Boats from France, which will be commissioned soon. It is my great pleasure to inform you that concomitantly, the Nigerian Navy also acquired a total of 173 assorted boats, including Epenal Boats, Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats, and Hydrographic Survey Boats in the last one year.

“These boats have gone a long way in bolstering Nigerian Navy capacity to police and carry out survey of Nigeria’s maritime environment,” he stated.