The Nigerian Navy (NN) has arrested 27 ships and 200 crew engaging in various maritime crimes.
The Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Adm. Ibok-Ete Ibas, said this when the Senate Committee on Navy paid him an oversight visit at the Naval Headquarters in Abuja.
Ibas said that NN had recorded tremendous achievements principally in the area of maritime domain awareness, policing operations, fleet recapitalisation and training.
He explained that the country’s waters had become extremely dangerous since the beginning of this year
Ibas said that 49 piracy incidents were recorded between January and April alone.
According to him, “NN responded decisively by mounting an anti-piracy operation tagged “Operation Tsare Teku’’ which has been very successful so far, limiting attacks to just three incidents since April.”
He added that the operations enabled the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC) to nominate 883 tankers to load about 426,290,855 barrels of crude oil and allied products.
Ibas added: “We have been able to monitor and checkmate maritime crimes, especially crude oil theft, illegal bunkering, sea robbery and piracy at the Central Command, Yenagoa.
“Some coordination centres have been activated and data communication with deployed units is being improved, manning is also being enhanced through continued training.’’
He expressed optimism that the ongoing integration with Falcon Eye project and Boat Tracker would ensure versatility in the NN operations.
The CNS said that in spite of the tremendous achievements recorded by NN so far, there were some challenges, especially in area of platforms, shortage of barrack accommodation and inadequate funding.
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