- Justice Tsoho
By Anthony Nwachukwu
Concerned at the absence of laws regulating activities on Nigeria’s contiguous zone, and the need to optimise the nation’s abundant maritime endowments in growing the economy, the judiciary has called for capacity building through promulgation and enforcement of relevant laws.
Making this call Wednesday in Lagos at the third Nigerian Admiralty Law Colloquium, the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court, Justice John Terhemba Tsoho, insisted that “if we are to harness the gains of a secure maritime domain, we must continue to build capacity and fine-tune our laws.”
Based on the theme of the colloquium, “Beyond Maritime Security, Threats in the Gulf of Guinea: Harnessing the Gains of Secure Maritime Domain,” Tsoho, who was represented by Justice Olayinka Faji of the Lagos High Court, disclosed that work has been concluded on Admiralty Jurisdiction Procedure Rules and text sent for gazetting.
He noted that the roles of stakeholders in the maritime sector, including the Nigerian Navy, and the organisers of the workshop – the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), National Judicial Institute (NJI) and Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), cannot be underestimated.
These “have kept faith with the tasks of ensuring the growth and development of maritime law and practice in Nigeria. We must not also forget the UNODC, which has been committed towards enhancing the knowledge of stakeholders in this industry,” he stated.
Tsoho noted that the promulgation of the SPOMO Act in 2019 has impacted positively on the safety of the nation’s maritime domain in the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean maritime zone, with similar results in the Indian Ocean maritime zone (East and West).
Commending the efforts of stakeholders in the African maritime domain as yielding fruits, he warned, however, that the price of peace and freedom is eternal vigilance. Therefore, “if we are to harness the gains of a secure maritime domain, we must continue to build capacity and fine-tune our laws.
“It is in this connection that I must state that work has been concluded on the new Admiralty Jurisdiction Procedure Rules and the text has been sent for gazetting. It is thus only a matter of days before the new rules will come into force.
“All these legislative efforts are geared towards enhancing the potentials of our country in the deep blue project and the overall growth of our economy. It is not in doubt that the potentials of our maritime domain have not been well harnessed.
“The issues of enforcement of our fiscal, health, immigration and sanitary laws, particularly in our contiguous zone, and the encouragement of cabotage activities within our territorial waters is also key.
“The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 lays down the minimum standards which states must apply within the maritime zones of territorial waters, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.
“UNCLOS is for now the most comprehensive codification of customary international law and state practice in matters relating to the activities at sea.
“Even though there are laws regulating activities within the territorial waters of Nigeria and its exclusive economic zone, there are no laws on the contiguous zone. There are many activities taking place within this zone and the continental shelf which adversely affect our security and other interests.
“It may therefore be the appropriate time to consider the promulgation of a maritime zones act to further strengthen the hand of law enforcement, particularly within our contiguous and other maritime zones.”
