The Nigerian Navy has assured that the Nigerian Maritime Enviroment (NME) is safe for maritime and economic activities.
The Navy said this in reaction to the spate of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) particularly the two unfortunate incidences were recorded within the GoG in the last 3 weeks.
The first incident which involved the hijack of 1àMotor Tanker (MT) MONJASA a REFORMER occurred on 25 March 2023 at a location144 nautical mile (nm) West-SouthWest (WSW) of Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo. It was later discovered that the pirates abducted 6 crew members from the vessel. The second incident involved the hijack of MT SUCCESS-9 about 306 nm SW of Abidjan Fairway Buoy (FWB), Cote d’Ivoire on 10 April 2023.
The Navy in a Statement at the weekend by its spokesperson Commodore Adedotun Ayo-Vaughan said no piracy has been recorded in the NME and it has continued to employ her surveillance infrastructure to monitor shipping activities within the nation’s maritime environment.
The Navy assured that it will continue to exploit intelligence to track activities of criminals in order to maintain sanctity of the Nigerian Maritime Environment
“In reaction to the recent spike in piracy incidents in the GoG, the Nigerian Navy (NN) has sustained presence of her capital ships at sea as well as directed operations bases to enhance efforts to dominate their Areas of Operations. It is pertinent to state that the NN vectored
Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) GONGOLA to rendezvous MT MONJASA REFORMER in company of NNS KANO and a French Warship to escort the vessel to Lome, Togo. To this end, the NN enjoins all seafarers to continue to carry out their legitimate businesses without fear.
“While noting that no incident of piracy has occurred within the NN would continue to sustain credible presence to deter any form of criminality. In securing the NME and GoG in general, the NN appreciates the efforts of international partners under the Coordinated Maritime Presence arrangement as well as the support of other maritime stakeholders that play other roles in the collective security of the GoG”, the statement read.