NIMASA collaboration with Navy restored calm to Gulf of Guinea – Jamoh
The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr Bashir Jamoh says collaboration with the Nigerian Navy has helped to restore calm to Nigerian waters and the Gulf of Guinea.
An elated Jamoh, who said this Tuesday when he received the Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Mustapha Hasssan and a delegation of senior Naval officers in Lagos, noted that the model is being adopted in other countries.
According to him, the collaboration led to the reduction of incidents of piracy from 26 to zero piracy incident for almost two years.
He said, “Just imagine that the negative media exposure in 2019-2020 about prevalent piracy and criminal activities in Nigerian waters had continued, you can only imagine where Nigeria would have been by now. I am glad we sought and got collaboration with the Navy.
While noting that the Agency would ensure the policy to enable Nigerians enjoy benefits accruable from the Blue Economy, the DG announced the constitution of an eight-man committee, comprising four each from the Navy and NIMASA was also announced to serve as catalyst for Shift from Crude to Blue.
The FOC West, Rear Admiral Mustapha Hassan, noted the need to sustain information sharing between NIMASA and the Nigerian Navy. He commended NIMASA management for the non-kinetic support to the Western Naval Command.
He also requested NIMASA to support ‘Operation Water Guard’ to combat smuggling around the Badagry channel.
The FOC West, who had the Commander Deep Blue Commodore OA Akinbami on his entourage, noted that the Deep Blue assets are fully functional and requested for further deepening of information sharing between the Western Naval Command and the NIMASA C4i center.
He also urged the Agency to bring to the notice of the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, the need for Nigeria to take possession of the oil rich Tongeji Island between Nigeria and Benin Republic for maritime tourism in particular.
The closest village to the Tongeji Island in Nigeria is Badagry and it is about 55 minutes by water, while just 5 minutes from Porto Novo. The residents speak French and English and they do their daily shopping from Porto Novo.
