Maritime Security House Of Reps Seeks Better Funding For Navy
The Nigerian Navy should be better equipped to curb insecurity on the nation’s waterways especially in the fight against pipeline vandalism, the House of Representatives has said.
Addressing reporters on Friday in Rivers State, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Navy, Abdulsamad Dasuki, said that the activities of militants in the Niger Delta had almost crippled the nation’s main source of revenue.
He says the navy must be properly positioned to salvage the maritime environment.
“The House of Representatives is already considering a Maritime Trust Fund bill,” he stated.
The Committee visited the Nigerian Navy Shipyard Pathfinder in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State.
The visit is coming at a time military operations in the Niger Delta region had been heightened due to attacks on oil installations in the region, a development that has affected the revenue of the oil-rich nation with its economy in recession.
A group that calls itself the Niger Delta Avenger has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks that have dropped the nation’s crude oil output with nearly a million barrels per day, according to the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed.
It has last month agreed to a ceasefire and said it was ready for negotiations with the Federal Government.
Aside from hostility in the Niger Delta region, the Navy is also battling to end illegal fishing in Nigeria’s waters.
In May, the navy arrested a fishing trailer, MFT Baba 11 fishing at the Eastern Naval Command Waters without valid Naval approval for fishing and shipping of fish.
The arrest was made by the NNS Centenary upon patrol at the high sea to check illegalities on the waters which is the mandate of the Navy.
Briefing newsmen at the NNS Victory headquarters in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, the Victory Commander, Commodore Marcus Bobai, disclosed that fishing in some waters without valid permit is an offence and punishable by law.
He added that the fishermen are aware of this law.
According to the commodore, the fishermen on board the vessel Baba 11 were not only caught fishing without renewed authorized particulars to fish, but were also transferring the catches to a wooden boat which is strongly against fishing regulations.
He maintained that the Navy would do all within its reach to sanitize the waters and make it a safe haven for users.
The fishermen and the vessel have been formally handed over to the Federal Department of Fisheries for further investigation and prosecution.
Other military operations in the region are Operation Delta Safe and Exercise Crocodile Smile.
The military outfits suffered a setback weeks ago, losing some officials when in a boat mishap.
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