Maritime
Pirates Abduct 13 Seafarers In Togo, Benin
No fewer than 13 seafarers have been kidnapped by rampaging pirates off the coast of Cotonou, Benin Republic and coast of Lome, Togo.
This is as pirates attacked three passenger boats along the Billie waterways in Rivers State, killing two persons and injured others who were heading for a wedding ceremony in the Kalabari community, last Saturday.
The Tide reliably learnt that nine of the seafarers were kidnapped off Cotonou on a Norwegian-flagged ship codenamed MV Bonita, last Saturday, while four were kidnapped on Monday aboard a Greek oil tanker, named Elka Aristotle off Lome.
The Norwegian ship owner, J.J. Ugland, in a terse statement on Sunday, said that, ”The Ugland Emergency Response Team are handling this situation as per contingency plans, and they are in contact with relevant authorities. The families of the crew members have been contacted and will be kept informed by Ugland.”
Although the Norwegian ship owner declined making the identities of the crew members and their nationalities public due to security reasons, he said, the ship was carrying a cargo of gypsum, a mineral commonly used as fertilizer.
With regard to the abduction on the Greek tanker, authorities said the four kidnapped crew members include two Filipinos, one Greek and one Georgian.
One security guard was also reportedly shot and wounded in the attack.
The Greek authorities in a statement said, “On Monday, 4th of November 2019, around 0300, the tanker boat Elka Aristotle was attacked around 18 kilometers (11 miles) from the port of Lome by armed individuals,”
The vessel’s manager, European Product Carriers Ltd, confirmed the early morning attack, without providing further details.
Greece’s shipping ministry said it was “closely monitoring the issue.”
The Tide learnt that armed guards were present on the Greek boat and tried to fight off the attackers, but one was wounded.
The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said while piracy has reduced worldwide, West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea was a high-risk area for abductions and armed robbery.
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The Nigerian Communications Commission has announced fresh measures to strengthen the protection of the nation’s critical digital infrastructure, in line with a presidential directive to secure assets vital to the country’s economy and security.
Telecommunications companies have experienced a sharp rise in vandalism targeting critical infrastructure in recent months, particularly since May 2025. This wave of deliberate attacks has affected major operators such as MTN, Airtel, and Glo, as well as tower companies like IHS Towers
The NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Aminu Maida, said the initiative to protect the facilities is aimed at ensuring the resilience of telecommunications and other digital infrastructure against cyberattacks, vandalism, and natural disasters.
“Protecting our critical information infrastructure is not just a regulatory mandate but a national security priority,” Maida said in a statement, after a stakeholders’ engagement in Abuja, recently.
He stated further that, “We are working closely with operators, security agencies, and other stakeholders to ensure proactive risk management, rapid incident response, and improved resilience.”
Operators reported at least five vandalism incidents daily since May 2025, compared to two per day prior to this period, amounting to 445 cases over 88 days.
The most severely hit regions include Delta, Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Edo, Kwara, Kaduna, Ogun, Lagos, Kogi, Ekiti, Osun, Imo, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The NCC identified telecoms base stations, data centres, undersea cable landing stations, and other core network components as part of the critical assets requiring enhanced protection.
Industry players at the meeting welcomed the move, citing repeated incidents of fibre cuts, equipment theft, and sabotage that have disrupted connectivity across the country.
The initiative follows the President’s earlier directive to government agencies to align with the National Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy, which prioritises the protection of critical information infrastructure.
The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria has repeatedly called for urgent intervention, including involvement from security agencies and adoption of the Critical National Infrastructure Act to protect telecom sites.
The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has said there is a gap in the relationship between the Bureau and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) on investigating accidents in the maritime sector.
The Bureau’s Director General, Capt. Alex Badeh Jr., who disclosed this recently in a chat with journalists, stated that full implementation of the NSIB Establishment Act 2022 would drastically reduce serious incidents and accidents and improve safety in all modes of transportation in Nigeria.
He, however, expressed regret that the bureau only gets information about most occurrences in the inland waterways from the media, emphasising that, as government organisations funded with taxpayers’ money, NIMASA and NSIB were supposed to work as a team, but lamented that bureaucracy was interfering with safety in the maritime industry.
He also stated that the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) and NIWA were willing to collaborate with the NSIB and expressed optimism that the bureau would also bring NIMASA on board.
‘‘Engagement of investigations in other modes of transportation is a work in progress. Some of them will resume by September. We intend to engage retired personnel, and of course, we hope to get people seconded from the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and NIMASA, train them and teach them the procedures of our investigations”, he said.
Taking a cue from the aviation industry’s investigation of serious incidents and accidents, Badeh insisted that its inquiry into rail and maritime was not to apportion blame but reveal what led to such an occurrence.
This, he said, would not preclude any other form of investigation, including investigations into actions in civil, criminal, and administrative proceedings.
According to him, NIMASA’s total cooperation in fulfilling its mandate would enable the country to operate according to the procedure and policy requirements of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) while also plugging the system’s loopholes.
He argued that Nigeria needed to comply with the international standards for serious incidents and accident investigations.
He said this would further bolster stakeholders’ confidence in Nigeria’s system, increase its ratings in the comity of nations and prevent recurrence through the recommendations of its safety reports.
Badeh continued that to meet the expected standards, the bureau had already drafted the Maritime Safety Investigation Regulations 2025, the Railways (Investigation of Accident and Incidents) Regulation 2024, and the Civil Aviation (Investigation of Air Accidents and Incidents) Regulations 2025, hoping that all concerns would accept their implementations.
He debunked the notion in some quarters that the entrance of NSIB into accident investigation in the marine sector would lead to overlapping of functions in the industry.
According to him, the IMO recognised NIMASA as an investigator of marine accidents because the system was vacuumed. Still, it maintained that the emergence of NSIB had closed the gap in the system.
Badeh explained further that the bureau was on the verge of engaging investigators in the rail and maritime sectors to effectively investigate occurrences in those modes of transportation, assuring that some professionals would come on board by September and October this year to beef up its operations.
He expressed optimism that the NSIB was up to conducting a seamless investigation in the maritime sector, stressing that the bureau had already agreed with the Nigerian Navy to carry out this exercise.
The United Nations Development Programme and the Rural Electrification Agency have signed an agreement aimed at accelerating Nigeria’s clean energy transition, boosting innovation, and equipping a new generation of professionals for a future-ready energy sector.
The collaboration, formalised at a signing ceremony in Abuja, will be anchored on five key pillars: energising education and innovation; scaling skills development; supporting state-level policy reforms; unlocking innovative financing; and advancing research and public engagement.
Speaking at the event, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of REA, Abba Aliyu, described the partnership as “a game-changer” for Nigeria’s renewable energy ambitions.
He said the initiative will build on ongoing Federal Government renewable energy scale-up efforts, unlock opportunities in local content and manufacturing, and drive sustainable investment.
“Our goal is to position Nigeria as a renewable energy hub, reduce governance costs, and catalyse innovation, research and development”, Aliyu said.
He explained that the initiative would build on ongoing Federal Government renewable energy scale-up programmes, expand local content and manufacturing capacity, and attract sustainable investments into the sector.
Aliyu stressed that unlocking opportunities in clean energy would require practical strategies on local content, domestic manufacturing, and innovative finance, noting that these measures would cut governance costs while advancing sustainability.
The REA boss added that “the REA-UNDP partnership pillars are specifically targeted at advancing ongoing efforts in the clean energy space in Nigeria, catalysing opportunities across critical ecosystems and unlocking the full potential in innovation, R&D, local expertise and sustainable investment.”
On her part, the UNDP Resident Representative in Nigeria, Ms. Elsie G. Attafuah, said the collaboration represented a bold step toward a more sustainable and prosperous Nigeria, adding that it would not only expand access to clean energy but also drive innovation, youth empowerment, and job creation.
“This collaboration with the Rural Electrification Agency is a bold step toward a more sustainable and prosperous Nigeria.
“Our partnership will not only provide access to clean energy but also serve as a powerful engine for innovation, youth empowerment, and job creation. We are moving beyond simply powering communities to igniting their full potential.
“We are moving beyond simply powering communities to igniting their full potential”, she said.
Attafuah also highlighted the importance of processing Nigeria’s natural resources, such as lithium, into value-added renewable energy products like lithium battery systems, while embedding innovation and research into the nation’s learning institutions to catalyse the creation of green jobs.
Under the agreement, UNDP’s University Innovation Pods and Maker Spaces will be integrated into REA’s Energising Education Programme to transform federal universities and teaching hospitals into hubs of practical innovation.
The deal will also scale REA’s NEXTGEN initiative, designed to train a new generation of clean energy professionals, thereby creating a national talent pipeline and addressing youth unemployment in the sector.
At the subnational level, UNDP and REA will provide policy and technical support to help states implement the Electricity Act and harmonise energy policies.
On financing, both organisations will leverage blended finance models to de-risk renewable energy projects, attract private capital, and strengthen the Rural Electrification Fund.
Additionally, they will jointly produce robust data on sustainable energy progress and run public engagement campaigns to drive policy support and consumer adoption of clean energy.
According to the partners, the initiative reflects UNDP’s commitment to locally driven, inclusive, and resilient development, as well as REA’s mandate to bring sustainable energy to unserved and underserved communities.
Both agencies expressed optimism that the collaboration would fast-track Nigeria’s journey towards universal access to clean energy and a greener economy.