- Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dr. Bashir Jamoh (right), presenting a souvenir to the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Mustapha Hassan, during his courtesy visit to NIMASA in Lagos
By Anthony Nwachukwu
Key to his administration’s achievements so far in maritime security in Nigerian waters and the Gulf of Guinea has been the collaboration with the Nigerian Navy, the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh, has said.
Jamoh, who spoke during a courtesy visit to the agency by the Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Mustapha Hasssan, and a delegation of senior naval officers in Lagos, said the Nigerian model was now being adopted in other countries.
He disclosed that the change in narratives about security in Nigerian waters from the era of over 26 piracy incidents and negative media exposure to no incident for almost two years is a direct product of effective collaboration between the agency and the navy, which he hopes to deepen.
“Collaboration with the Nigerian Navy is largely responsible for the confidence of stakeholders in the current management of the agency,” a statement from the Head of Public Relations, Edward Osagie, quoted Jamoh to say.
“I was in Brazil last week, the South Americans and even our neighbours like Ghana are eager to learn how we arrived at this MARAD-Navy collaboration yielding successes.
“Just imagine that the negative media exposure in 2019-2020 about prevalent piracy and criminal activities in Nigerian waters had continued, you can only imagine where Nigeria would have been by now. I am glad we sought and got collaboration with the Navy.”
Jamoh restated the agency’s eagerness for a policy that ensures that Nigerians enjoy benefits accruable from the blue economy, adding: “The time has come for us to implement our Crude to Blue campaign since 2021.
“If we must make headway in tourism and fishing, security is priority. We will make a case for the designation of Marine Protected Areas, particularly for fishing, and the Nigerian Navy definitely will play a major role.”
Meanwhile, an eight-man committee comprising four each from the Navy and NIMASA has been constituted to serve as catalyst for Shift from Crude to Blue, now that Nigeria has a Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy.
On his part, the FOC West, Rear Admiral Mustapha Hassan, noted the need to sustain information sharing between NIMASA and the Navy, while commending the NIMASA management for the non-kinetic support to the Western Naval Command.
He requested NIMASA to support Operation Water Guard to combat smuggling around the Badagry channel. Noting that the Deep Blue assets are fully functional, he requested a further deepening of information sharing between the Western Naval Command and the NIMASA C4i center.
Hassan also urged NIMASA to notify the ministry on the need for Nigeria to take possession of a border island in Badagry – the oil-rich Tongeji Island between Nigeria and Benin Republic – for maritime tourism in particular.
Jamoh described the oil-rich island as a low hanging fruit for the ministry, assuring that the agency would relate with the ministry for further actions, particularly as regards maritime tourism.
The closest village to the Tongeji Island in Nigeria is Badagry and it is about 55 minutes by water, while just five minutes from Porto Novo. The residents speak French and English and do their daily shopping from Porto Novo.
