Maritime
NIMASA Vows To Eliminate Maritime Crimes
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, (NIMASA), has vowed to eliminate all forms of maritime crimes from the nation’s territorial waters.
Director General, NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, made the promise while receiving a special mission aircraft at the Nigerian Air Force Base, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, recently.
Accompanied by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, Jamoh said the new aircraft would further improve security in Nigerian waters.
A special mission aircraft was received in Lagos last Wednesday, in the final phase of the delivery and installation of assets under the deep blue project designed to secure Nigerian waters up to the Gulf of Guinea.
The NIMASA boss said the deployment of the deep blue project assets would reduce the rate of attacks in the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), explaining that the goal is to eliminate maritime crimes.
“There has been a drastic decrease in the rate of security breaches in our waters in recent times. This is a clear indication that we are getting it right with the deep blue project”
“We ultimately aim to completely eradicate security hindrances to shipping and business generally in the Nigerian maritime domain”, he said.
He explained further that the integrated national security and waterways protection infrastructure, also known as the deep blue project, was designed with three categories of platforms to tackle maritime security issues on land, sea and air.
The land assets, according to Jamoh, comprise the command, control, communication, computer, and Intelligence Centre (C4i) for intelligence gathering and data collection; 16 armoured vehicles for coastal patrol, and about 600 specially trained troops for interdiction, known as maritime security unit.
The air assets include two special mission aircrafts for surveillance of the EEZ, one of which was received last Wednesday, with the second one expected to arrive tomorrow, as well as three special mission helicopters for search and rescue; and four unmanned aerial vehicles.
The statement added that Jamoh had earlier inspected three special mission helicopters at the Naval Base, Apapa, under the project and is billed for launch on May 21.