Nigeria losing $26.3bn annually to piracy, sea robbery – Buhari

Nigeria is losing about $26.3bn annually to various forms of criminality particularly piracy and sea robbery, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.
The President said this while inaugurating Falcon Eye Project, Nigerian Navy’s Strategic Maritime Surveillance System, on Tuesday at the Naval Headquarters, Abuja.
Represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Buhari said that securing Nigeria’s shipping lanes was crucial to the nation’s economic interests.
Buhari said that in recent years, some threats within Nigeria’s maritime environment had taken more harmful dimensions to the economy and even the safety of citizens and commercial entities which used the maritime domain.
“These include piracy, armed attacks on ships, kidnapping for ransom, crude oil theft, smuggling, as well as Illegal Unregulated and Unreported Fishing (IUU).
“It is estimated that Nigeria loses about $26.3bn annually to various forms of criminality particularly piracy and sea robbery.
“On account of the escalated risks in some of our maritime areas insurance premiums for commercial vessels coming to these areas have risen sharply making maritime trade an unattractive proposition.
“This underscores the need to enhance our maritime security architecture; consequently, a critical contribution of the Falcon Eye System will be the provision of actionable intelligence for curbing maritime threats to our economy.”

The President however said that his administration had demonstrated a clear commitment to building the capacity of Nigeria’s strategic institutions to secure its coastal waters and the precincts of its maritime neighbourhood.
He said that on June 24, 2019, he assented to the Suppression of Piracy and other Maritime Offences Bill.
He said, “By this Act, Nigeria became the first country in the West and Central African Sub-Regions to promulgate a stand-alone law against piracy, which is an important international requirement, set by the International Maritime Organisation as part of measures to guarantee secure global shipping.
“The Act provides the much-needed legal and institutional framework to improve maritime security and ensure safe and secure shipping in Nigerian waters.
“Last year, we commenced prosecution and secured our first convictions under this law.”
Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Awwal Gambo, said the project came out of the need for national maritime security architecture that would leverage modern technology to enhance the safeguard of the immense hydrocarbon, living and other mineral resources in the nation’s maritime domain.
National Security Adviser Babagana Monguno also said the project was borne out of the necessity to combat the myriad of security problems within the maritime sector.
He said that the contract was signed in 2014 and designed to provide Nigeria with effective surveillance capability of its entire maritime domain.