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NIMASA Trains 41 Nigerians On Waterways Security
In a bid to secure the Nation waterways across the country, the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) says a total 41 persons have been trained in security intelligence gathering course.
The training scheme which was tagged ‘Deep blue Project’ targeted at securing Nigerian maritime domain up to the Gulf of Guinea.
This was contained in a statement made available to The Tide during the graduation ceremony held at the NIMASA resource centre, Kirikiri, Lagos over the weekend
Speaking at the ceremony, Director General of NIMASA said the officers were trained by Israeli based security firm; HLS International.
He said the Federal Executive Council had awarded a security contract worth $195 million to HLS International. Component of the project includes; acquisition of assets, training of personnel and intelligence.
He noted that the operatives had undergone 4-weeks training of intelligence and surveillance training.
The DG said the personnels were carefully selected across various security agencies including Nigerian Navy, Air force, Nigerian Army, Police and Department of State Security.
He said the Deep Blue project is geared towards building a formidable integrated surveillance and security architecture that will comprehensively combat maritime crime and on Nigerian waterways up to the Gulf of Guinea.
“The maritime sector is critical to Nigeria’s economy and worried by the continued threat of insecurity of our maritime economy and the need to support economic renaissance of the nation, there was a bilateral collaboration between the ministries of defence and transportation with active support of NIMASA and we got a Presidential approval as well as FEC approval to initiate and commence the deep blue project.
Parts of the statement reads, “The Nigerian maritime domain lately has been in the news for the wrong reasons, today we are described as an area known for piracy, maritime crime, investors are scared, businesses that should ordinarily call at our ports are now being diverted to neighboring ports just because of the threat of maritime insecurity.
Chiendu Wosu