United Nations (UN) has lauded Nigeria for its leadership role and commitment towards curbing maritime crimes following the first-ever successful prosecution of piracy in Africa where 10 pirates were convicted in 2021.
The executive director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Ghada Fathi Wali, who gave the commendation in New York, said the successful collaboration between Nigeria and UNODC, as evidenced by the Global Maritime Crime Programme and the Strategic Vision for Africa launched in 2021, ha encouraged the organisation to extend its partnership beyond national governments to regional organisations.
A statement by the head, Strategic Communications, Office of the National Security Adviser, Zakari Usman, said one of the gaps identified by the federal government of Nigeria in the fight against maritime crimes was the weak legal and institutional framework for prosecuting offenders.
President Muhammadu Buhari had in response on the 24th of June 2019, assented to the Suppression of Piracy and other Maritime Offences (POMO) Bill.
“By the POMO Act, Nigeria became the first country in the West and Central African sub-regions to promulgate a stand-alone law against piracy”.
He said the Act also domesticates, as required, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 1982 and the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA), 1988.
“In July 2021, under the POMO Act, the Federal Government secured the successful prosecution of 10 pirates for the first time anywhere in Africa.
But asides creating a legal and institutional framework for prosecuting maritime crimes, the Federal Government has also prioritised the provision of maritime intelligence facilities” he said.
To boost intelligence gathering and operations, President Muhammadu Buhari had commissioned a state-of-the-art Falcon Eye Maritime Intelligence Facility at the Naval Headquarters in Abuja last year.
He said the set up and operationalisation of the project was facilitated by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) as part of efforts to boost Nigeria’s overall maritime security architecture, in accordance with the National Security Strategy (NSS, 2019), under which kidnapping of oil workers, sea robbery/piracy, incessant problems of crude oil theft, illegal bunkering, hostage-taking and maritime terrorism are classified as national security threats.
He restated that the Office of the National Security Adviser is committed to ongoing national, regional and international collaboration to strengthen legal, administrative and operational efforts in line with national maritime security objectives.
He, therefore, called on stakeholders to continue to set high standard in the prevention and prosecution of maritime crimes.
