Back
Why West African waters remain global hotspot for maritime insecurity
Oct 22, 2020
WHEN the current Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Bashir Jamoh took over the reins of leadership of the maritime security agency in the close of the first quarter of 2020, and within his first hundred days in office, displayed to the public 10 arrested pirates, (a feat unprecedented until that time), the world heaved a sigh of relief that at last, sanity had come to prevail in the volatile Nigerian waters. However, maritime insecurity activities in the following nine months, within and around Nigeria’s territorial waters, have shown that Nigeria still has much to do.
DREADFUL STATISTICS
Latest statistics emanating from the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has shown a rise in piracy and armed robbery on the world’s seas in the first nine months of 2020, with a 40 percent increase in the number of kidnappings reported in the Gulf of Guinea, compared with the same period in 2019. Pirates armed with guns and knives are abducting bigger groups of seafarers at further distances off the West African coast. IMB’s latest global piracy report details 132 attacks since the start of 2020, up from 119 incidents in the same period of last year.
Of the 85 seafarers kidnapped from their vessels and held for ransom globally, 80 were taken in the Gulf of Guinea in 14 attacks reported off Nigeria, Benin, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Ghana. In the first nine months of 2020, seafarers reported 134 cases of assault, injury and threats, including 85 crewmembers being kidnapped and 31 held hostage onboard their ships. A total of 112 vessels were boarded and six were fired upon, while 12 reported attempted attacks. Two fishing vessels were also hijacked both in the Gulf of Guinea.
0Shares
0Comments
0Favorites
0Likes
Say something to impress...
Loading...
Comments
Hot

No content at this moment.

Relevant people
Tribune NG
20223 Followers
Business, entertainment, politics
Related