Maritime Agencies

INSECURITY IN GoG: Expose and Deal With International Syndicates Now, MARAN Challenges FG

Published

3 years ago

December 2, 2023

Admin

By Izuchukwu Ozoemena

Nigeria’s pioneer maritime journalists’ group, the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN) has charged the Federal Government to take a second look at strategies on ground to address the nagging problem of oil theft and maritime insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) especially at a time achievements recorded in recent years to address the menace appear to be fading away as resurgence is now being witnessed.

MARAN President, Godfrey Bivbere made the call in Lagos, Wednesday, at a one-day MARAN Annual Conference on the theme “Maritime Security: Emerging Threats and Actionable Steps”.

In his welcome address, he pointedly charged Nigeria authorities and other countries in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) to go back to the drawing board and design more lasting strategies that will ensure that a resurgence of the frightening occurrences is not witnessed, going forward.

“We challenge the Nigeria Government and her regional counterparts to come up with a more workable and result- oriented approach to the fight against maritime insecurity in the GoG. We believe that until and unless the international syndicates involved in the menace are confronted, apprehended and regularly exposed, through international collaboration as often happens with local criminals, the situation will not achieve any purposeful deterrence.

MARAN, he stated, is fully supportive of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his wisdom to establish the sector-specific Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy in response to stakeholders’ view that it is one major step to turn around the fortunes of the nation’s maritime domain for the greater good of the economy.

“We envisage that President Tinubu may consider reworking the deterrence clauses contained in the SPOMO Act, to make its intendment more purposeful and business-like.

“MARAN respectfully, wishes to further urge President Tinubu to provide an improved enabling environment for a common and united combat against maritime insecurity through effective harnessing of all available windows, both public and private sector participation.”

Bivbere said MARAN feels deeply pained that since the first half of 2023, piracy has resumed in the GoG. The enormous security threats is a reality the journalists’ body find unacceptable, making her to contribute in whatever way possible to create a public awareness that will ginger the government to design better ways to address a lingering menace.

MARAN, Bivbere said, acknowledge previous and current efforts by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Navy and their regional counterparts to address issue of piracy and related maritime threats in the GOG. But the body is particularly concerned about the frightening level of crude oil theft in the region beside illegal and unregulated fishing in the GoG by highly-placed international syndicates who enjoy the assistance of local collaborators.

The Federal Government and her counterparts in the region owe everybody the responsibility to rise to the occasion and put a permanent stop to it.

“MARAN is also worried about observed dissonance in the collective national effort to combat maritime economic crimes and crude oil smuggling, and call on the federal government and its relevant agencies to improve on coordination. I want to also especially call on the office of the National Security Adviser to the President, to have a firmer grip and supervision of the existing collaboration between state and non-state actors’ roles, in this regard.

“The International Maritime Bureau, IMB report of July 2023 confirmed that the GoG witnessed a surge in maritime incidents in 2023, with five of such incidents in the first quarter and nine in the second quarter. Out of these, 12 were classified as armed robberies and two as piracy, predominantly targeting anchored vessels within the region. In all the incidents, 14 crew members were kidnapped, out of which 8 were abducted from vessels on anchor. Additionally, in two separate hijacks, 31 crew members were taken hostage, communication and navigation equipment were destroyed, and some cargoes were stolen.”

Speaking at the event, Temi Omatseye, former Director-General of NIMASA observed that many illegal vessels operate on Nigerian waters. He advised that Nigeria should begin to issue ship entry notices to vessels before leaving or arriving at anchor.

“We should know who you are or where you are on Nigerian waters. We must stop playing politics with the shipping industry.”

“We should set up a Restore Zone Transportation Corridor to spot vessels moving in and out of the approved nautical areas. It enables Nigeria to know who is in her maritime territory.”

He emphasized that there is no crude theft in Nigeria. Whatever happens is at the terminals.”

In his intervention, Sesan Onileimo, notable maritime journalist and former President of MARAN attributed majority of issues of crude oil theft and piracy taking place in Nigerian waters to youth unemployment. Onileimo who publishes Shipping Position said that the maritime threats happening in the Niger Delta are rampant and will continue to be rampant as long as the system keeps churning out a large army of able-bodied but unemployed youths who easily become a willing tool in the hands of godfathers who sponsor piracy, crude oil theft and other maritime crimes in the Gulf of Guinea.

He described crude oil theft and piracy as a localized business because people from other geographic areas who are not versed in aquatic business as their counterparts in the Niger Delta cannot make a success when they venture in them.

“There’s a mass of unemployed youths that the society has foisted on us; an idle hand is a willing tool.”

“And I will like to look at this from two angles. There are two categories of unemployed willing youths: the ones trained by NIMASA under its National Seafarers’ Development Programme who were trained, qualified with or without Certificate of Competency (CoC) but waiting to have something to do. They are there, they want to be active, they are the tools that are being used to forment trouble.

“The second leg are those boys and girls who are trained locally, some of them are trained at MAN, Oron, but there are those that are trained even in Agege here who wear uniforms so much so like that of the Navy. They are equipped and recruited into that business that has turned out to be a source of threat to our maritime environment.

“I am saying this because in the course of my years as a maritime journalist, I have had cause to interact with a few of them. If you go to Liverpool here, I am sure the Maritime Workers’ Union will bear me witness; the boys and girls who graduated from Oron, who have turned out to be canoe boys, were not trained in Oron to be handling canoe and boats but there is no job for them. These are the same boys who had five years of training but afterwards, there is no job. Take that guy to Niger-Delta, he is ready to do anything for as long as the money is available”, Onileimo explained.

Adding his voice, Otumba Sola Adewunmi, President, Nigerian Indigenous Shipowners Association, (NISA) advised Nigeria as a country to work hard to have a safe sea where one could sail to wherever he wanted to do his business and safely come back. Adewunmi who suggested putting in place a Nigerian equivalent of the P&I oof Singapore observed that there was so much competition at sea, the equipments are there but with inefficient, uncommitted and inexperienced people to man them.

For instance, he stated,

the Navy’s situation room known as the Falcon Eye, captures and displays everything that happens at sea. But a selfish agenda, he regrets, often lead to inefficiency in job discharge.

“There’s nothing that happens at sea that they don’t see but you will realize that most of our security agents are engrossed with what will come into their pockets. A situation whereby they do everything to their advantage is one of the reasons we are having issues.

“What did Lome have that we do not have in Nigeria?This is the question we should just ask ourselves. These people saw our weakness and made sure that their anchorage was secure. It attracts international operators and they started making money out of it. What is the work of our security agencies? And even when arrests are made, are they not made on frivolous excuses? All these things still go to say what is going to be the benefit to me.

“Until we put the benefit of the nation and what the nation will earn overall, I think we are in a better position to protect our waters very well but this era of entitlement, ‘it is our entitlement, we must get it’, I think it is part of the issues that we have. And as much as these things are there, we will continue to have a higher cost of bringing vessels to this place.”

He opined that if the security agents could work together and there is a good judicial system, Nigeria can achieve a lot.

In his contribution, Capt Tajudeen Alao, President, National Association of Master Mariners (NAMM) stated that maritime crime being a big business whose tentacles spread across the globe cannot be perceived as a Nigerian thing. He advised the participants at the lecture to sit down as a group, brainstorm and come up with workable proceedings that could be presented to the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy to implement.

“Whatever we think is the right thing to do, there must be procedures and guidelines and once the Minister can make subsidiary legislation, it could go a long way in tackling most of these challenges. The trend now is, if you arrest a ship now engaging in illegal bunkering, you blow it up, does it make sense? The air pollution into the sky, the oil pollution into the ecosystem, you have destroyed the fish and periwinkles in that area.

“There are many things that we do. Like my colleague said, you arrest a ship, EFCC doesn’t know how to manage ship. The ship is there, they are waiting for the Police to go to court, the ship becomes a wreck, then, NPA and NIMASA will devote $2 million to salvage a ship that does not worth more than $300,000.”

He insisted that a deliberate action and political must exist before crime can be addressed.

“The Navy”, the NAMM boss continued, “cannot afford to fund maritime security just as it cannot afford to keep the ships at sea with the budget within its disposal”.

“It finds it comfortable relying on the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, (NIMASA) to fund most of its operations”.

Maritime Agencies

LIMWEEK 2026: Measurable Outcomes Must Guide Policies in Nigeria’s Marine and Blue Economy.

Published

15 hours ago

September 10, 2026

Admin

Dignitaries at the LIMWEEEK 2026 Conference at the Oriental Hotel, Victor Island, Lagos.

‎
‎
‎
‎
‎
‎By Izuchukwu Ozoemena
‎
‎
‎
‎
‎The Convener of the Lagos International Maritime Week (LIMWEEK) Conference , Barr Oritsematosan Edodo Emore has described the annual gathering as a veritable platform to assess the extent to which existing policies and programmes of government produce practical and measurable outcomes across the maritime, marine and blue economy value chains.
‎
‎Edodo Emore who doubles as the Chair of Zoe Maritime Resources Ltd spoke in Lagos, Tuesday, while welcoming guests at the 2026 edition of the Lagos International Maritime Week (LIMWEEK) and the 11th International Maritime Business-to-Business Conference and Exhibition with the theme “From Policy To Practice: Powering Maritime Excellence” holding at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island.
‎
‎Edodo-Emore who noted that maritime excellence cannot exist if the waterways suffer insecurity described maritime security as critical to cargo movement, preservation of national assets and a smooth functioning of the national economy.
‎
‎The conference, she stated, would examine ways to develop sustainable African shipping environment, rescue insolvent operators and apply the UNCITRAL Model Law in African jurisdictions.
‎
‎She acknowledged the attendance of representatives of the Nigerian Navy, Gulf of Guinea Commission, Maritime Organization of West and Central Africa, Gambian Maritime Authority and Damen Shipyard of South Africa, describing it as a way of strengthening cross-border and inter-regional collaboration .
‎
‎Edodo-Emore also announced full scholarships for 12 students from Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Ilorin and Lagos State University, with beneficiaries to receive mentorship to facilitate their entry into the maritime industry.
‎
‎In a lead paper presentation entitled “From Policy To Practice: Powering Maritime Excellence”, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, the Commission Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) said Nigeria must convert her vast offshore oil and gas assets into broader maritime investment for the purposes of job creation, enhancing industrial capacity and achieving a sustainable growth of her blue economy.
‎
‎Speaking through the Executive Commissioner, Health, Safety, Environment and Community, Capt. John Tonlagha, the NUPRC boss said offshore petroleum development must be treated as a major component of Nigeria’s maritime economy.
‎
‎Eyesan also called for stronger coordination among regulators, operators, investors, maritime agencies and coastal communities to close the gap between policy and implementation.
‎
‎Eyesan said offshore petroleum projects generated opportunities across marine logistics, drilling, subsea engineering, fabrication, port services, offshore support vessels, maintenance, inspection, emergency response and environmental management.
‎
‎“Offshore petroleum development is not separate from maritime development. It is a major maritime enterprise,” she said, stressing that the value chain runs from exploration through production, maintenance, decommissioning and environmental restoration.
‎
‎She said the effectiveness of government policy should ultimately be measured by its implementation, even as the regulatory chain must progress from policy and legislation to standards, procedures, enforcement, monitoring and continuous improvement.
‎
‎“A policy may be excellent on paper, but if it is not effectively implemented, it remains an aspiration,” Eyesan said.
‎
‎She identified seven priorities for moving from policy to practice: predictability, domestic capability, maritime infrastructure, environmental and safety performance, human capital, partnership and continuous learning.
‎
‎According to her, Nigeria had 131 offshore and deep offshore concessions as of January 1, 2026, representing 48.3 per cent of total concessions. The assets account for 61 per cent of annual oil production and hold 15.97 billion barrels of 2P oil and condensate reserves, or 43 per cent of national reserves, alongside 92.71 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves.
‎This underscores the strategic importance of offshore activities to Nigeria’s maritime economy and the need to ensure that more value is retained domestically through Nigerian businesses, professionals, technology and industrial capacity.
‎
‎She urged government to regard ports, shore bases, fabrication yards, ship-repair facilities and logistics corridors as strategic infrastructure capable of serving both petroleum and wider maritime activities.
‎
‎She also called for closer alignment between training institutions, regulators and industry to develop skills in offshore operations, marine engineering, digital systems, environmental management and decommissioning.
‎
‎
‎
‎
‎
‎
‎

Maritime Agencies

CUSTOMS’ ZONE ‘A’ SPORTS EVENT: CGC Adeniyi Highlights Need for Discipline, Teamwork in Customs Operations.

Published

4 days ago

September 7, 2026

Admin

‎
‎
‎
‎
‎By Izuchukwu Ozoemena
‎
‎
‎
‎
‎With a colourful display of sporting artistry, discipline and commitment, the Zone ‘A’ of the Nigeria Customs Service, Saturday, concluded the finals of her 2026 Inter-Command Games competition and award ceremonies.
‎
‎Zone ‘A’ of the Service comprises 15 autonomous Commands . These are Apapa; Federal Operations Unit (FOU, Ikeja; Kirikiri Lighter Terminal; Lagos Free Trade Zone; Lilypond Export; Murtala Mohammed Airport Command and the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Command. Others are Lagos Industrial Command; Ogun 1, Idiroko Command; Ogun 2, Abeokuta; PTML Command; Seme; Tincan; Western Marine Command and the Customs Police.
‎
‎In his opening remarks, Comptroller – General of the Service, Dr Bashir Adewale Adeniyi paid glowing tributes to the Zonal Coordinator, Zone A, Assistant Comptroller-General (ACG) Mohammed Babandede, the Chairman of the Organising Committee, Comptroller Chidi Nwokorie and his team for the colourful and impressive arrangement for the competition.
‎
‎Commenting on the state of sports infrastructure of the Service generally, the CGC called for noticeable improvements across all formations to develop the sporting talents of officers as this plays a key role in ensuring fitness and chances of enhanced prospects of productivity by officers who use such facilities.
‎
‎He described as unacceptable the state of sporting facilities at the Customs Training College, Ikeja, venue of the event, observing that it does not speak good of a Service that has made significant contributions to the growth of sports in Nigeria.
‎
‎Stating that consolidation , collaboration and innovation remain the key fulcrum of his tenure, CGC Adeniyi commended sister security agencies that participated in the event, including the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, describing their presence as a further effort to deepen the existing collaboration and partnership in the discharge of national security responsibilities.
‎
‎Adeniyi noted that Customs had produced athletes and teams that had excelled in various sporting competitions, recalling that at a time, the Service was the defending champion in male and female volleyball and had also performed strongly in basketball, football, athletics and beach volleyball. He said the service was already building an ultra-modern sporting facility in one of its barracks in Kano and promised that a befitting sports facility would be included in the proposed new location of the FOU and the Customs Training College Iperu, Ogun State.
‎
‎Beyond sports, the CG said the competition offered important lessons that Customs officers should apply to their professional duties, particularly discipline, teamwork and strategy. He stressed that just as success in sports required discipline and effective teamwork, Customs operations and revenue generation also required clear strategies and coordinated efforts.
‎
‎He congratulated the winners and encouraged those who lost to prepare for future competitions, urging officers to maintain the spirit of sportsmanship and teamwork in the discharge of their responsibilities.
‎
‎At the finals of the football competition, the Customs Police Command carried the day by defeating the MMIA side by a 1-0.
‎
‎The event featured march past and parade by all Commands under Zone ‘A’ as well as beautiful display by Customs expert riders.
‎

Maritime Agencies

Parts Central Ltd Set To Turn Waterway Waste into Wealth, says Onifade.

Published

6 days ago

September 4, 2026

Admin

Mr Henry Olaoluwa Onifade

‎
‎
‎
‎
‎By Izuchukwu Ozoemena
‎
‎
‎
‎
‎The growing volume of plastic waste, water hyacinth and other marine litter clogging Nigeria’s inland waterways can be turned into economic wealth through recycling, biofuels and other value-added processes.
‎
‎Mr Henry Olaoluwa Onifade, Managing Director, Parts Central Limited stated this in Lagos during activities marking his birthday. He also provided updates on his company’s recently launched nationwide waterways clean-up initiative in partnership with the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA).
‎
‎“We don’t have waste anymore; waste is now wealth,” he declared. The collaboration with NIWA, Onifade stated, is an initiative designed not merely to remove waste from Nigeria’s waterways but to develop sustainable systems for converting recovered materials into useful products.
‎
‎He explained that biodegradable materials collected during the clean-up would not simply be discarded. They could be processed for various applications, including biofuels and other products.
‎
‎According to him, the company is also examining technologies for sorting and processing plastic waste for recycling, stressing that the objective is to create an economically viable circular economy around Nigeria’s waterways.
‎
‎Onifade said the growing interest from government agencies, ministries, associations and other stakeholders in cleaner waterways was an indication that the initiative was addressing a critical national challenge.
‎
‎He noted that the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) was also engaging stakeholders on reducing plastic pollution in waterways.
‎
‎“We are happy that we can even think of a possible pollution-free waterways and roll it out. Since we rolled it out, we’ve heard of different people, associations, organisations and states that are now talking about it, which is very good for us,” he said.
‎
‎“Our goal is for us to have pollution-free waterways. By God’s grace, we will integrate everybody who has a very good and genuine mindset that pollution-free waterways is possible in Nigeria.”
‎
‎Onifade disclosed that Parts Central was developing a technology-driven database covering ports, jetties, landing sites, riverbanks, dockyards and other locations connected to Nigeria’s inland waterways.
‎
‎He said the database would enable the company and relevant government stakeholders to determine the volume of waste generated across different locations and deploy resources more effectively.
‎
‎Every jetty and landing port would be assessed to determine whether appropriate waste-management facilities were available, while boats and other watercraft would also be incorporated into the data-gathering process.
‎
‎“It’s not for us to have the data, because if you don’t have data of the people you want to cater for, you don’t know how to cater for them,” he declared.
‎
‎Onifade explained that Parts Central had spent considerable time testing different technologies and devices capable of tackling waterway pollution, adding that the exercise would eventually incorporate manufacturers and other stakeholders within the plastics and waste-management value chain.
‎
‎Parts Central, he disclosed, was preparing to extend the clean-up campaign beyond Lagos, with plans to flag off the waterways clean-up exercise in Port Harcourt and Imo State as part of its broader expansion across the country.
‎
‎Onifade said the company was currently putting structures in place to ensure that the initiative was properly coordinated and supported by data before expanding to additional locations to create a nationwide system where waterways would not only be cleaner but would also become sources of employment, enterprise and wealth creation.
‎
‎“Our goal is for us to have pollution-free waterways,” he reiterated, adding that the company would continue to work with government agencies, communities, private-sector operators and other stakeholders towards achieving the objective.
‎
‎Onifade also defended his transition from partisan politics to business, saying the experience gained in politics had strengthened his understanding of public needs, motivating him to pursue practical solutions through enterprise.
‎
‎“I took my own to the other side. I took it from politics to business,” he said.
‎
‎He urged Nigerians to embrace the concept of converting environmental challenges into economic opportunities.
‎
‎ “No more waste on the waterways; we will now have wealth on the waterways.”
‎