Rejigging Fight against Piracy in Gulf of Guinea Waters
Against the backdrop of recent cases of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea and the recent efforts to rejig maritime security, particularly in the Lagos area of responsibility, the Nigerian Navy recently held Exercise Secured Waters, the first in the series of exercises outlined for the year. Chiemelie Ezeobi reports
On January 23, 2021, a Liberia-flagged container ship "V/S Mozart" was attacked by pirates in Gulf of Guinea (GoG) waters. At the end of the operation, out of the 19 crew members in the vessel, one was killed while 15 others were kidnapped. The remaining three crew members were allowed to sail the vessel to Port-Gentil in Gabon.
The Turkish cargo ship was traveling from Lagos to Cape Town, South Africa, when the attack took place 185 kilometers (100 nautical miles) North-west of Sao Tome and Principe in the GoG.
Although the crew initially locked themselves in a safe area inside the vessel, but the pirates forced entry after six hours and it was then the engineer died. Abducting most of the crew, they however disabled most of the ship's systems, leaving only the navigation system for the three remaining crew members to find their way.
IMB Statistics
For a some time, piracy in the GoG waters almost died down but recently resurfaced to threatening proportions. In fact, in 2020, pirate attacks in the GoG hit a record high. According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), in 2020, pirates operating in the regional waters kidnapped 130 seafarers in 22 separate incidents, accounting for all but five of those seized worldwide last year.
This record exceeded that of 2019 which was 121 cases. The IMB's annual piracy report posited that overall armed robbery and piracy incidents rose to 195 in 2020, up from 162 in 2019, an increase it attributed to attacks in the GoG and armed robbery in the Singapore Straits.
According to IMB Director, Michael Howlett, despite prompt action by navies in the region, there remains an urgent need to address this crime, adding that the latest statistics confirm the increased capabilities of pirates in the GoG of with more and more attacks taking place further from the coast.
Gulf of Guinea Waters
The Gulf of Guinea waters covers 2.3 million square kilometers (888,000 sq m) and borders more than a dozen countries. Lying across 19 coastal and island states, the GoG coastline, which stretches from the waters off Senegal to the south of Angola, is a treasure trove of rich resources.
Comprising 26 countries grouped into two Regional Economic Communities (RECs), namely Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS, 11 states with the return of Rwanda) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; 15 states), the GoG countries’ total population is about 472 million, with 160 and 310 million inhabitants for ECCAS and ECOWAS, respectively.
Covering a surface area of 11,755,258 square kilometers, including a coastline of over 6000 kilometres from Senegal to Angola, the GoG countries have an estimated 24 billion barrels of crude oil reserves, that is five per cent of global reserves; five million barrels of crude oil per day; 40 per cent of Europe’s petroleum consumption, and 29 per cent of US petroleum consumption.
Also, the GoG is also the primary conduit of international trade and is central to the economy of the associated regions. It is increasingly looked upon today as resource provider and critical contributor to national growth and prosperity of the several nations lining its coasts and even those landward and with no shared boundaries.
Diverse Maritime Threats
Undoubtedly, the maritime environment is one of the mainstays of the Nigerian economy. Shipping activities, exploitation and exploration of maritime resources as well as use of port facilities have consistently been the main source of the revenue that drives the nation's budget.
The implication therefore is that the nation's maritime environment is evidently strategic to the national survival and the prosperity of the citizens of any nation and Nigeria is not left out.
However, the immense potentials of the area are unfortunately undermined by potent threats and they manifest into diverse natures which are accompanied by devastating effects in plundering revenue loses, ecological damage, environmental degradation, erosion of confidence of stakeholders, malicious damage and sabotage of maritime infrastructure and their profound implication in the incubating role for the many security breaches on land.
It is a given that these diverse threats of insecurity has over the years been a considerable source of concern as the nation’s network of oil and gas installations as well as associated shipping have been threatened by maritime crimes such as piracy, sea robbery, Crude Oil Theft (COT), illegal oil bunkering, smuggling, Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing, militancy and kidnapping for ransom.
Nigeria Steps in with Exercise Secured Waters
Although these recent resurgence of maritime crimes, especially piracy, have been recorded outside Nigerian waters, a wise navy would always protect its flanks from attacks even if its nation isn’t the initial target. And this is exactly what the Nigerian Navy (NN) has taken up the gauntlet to do by flagging off Exercise Secured Waters, which doubles as the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) First Quarter Sea Exercise for the Year 2021.
This dedication to ensure a safe and secure maritime domain is not in itself surprising given that Nigeria, as one of the countries in the GoG has a coastline of about 420nautical miles (nm) and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 200nm covering about 84,000 square nm of the National Maritime Environment (NME).
Also, the nation’s maritime area of interest which includes the entire GoG and is about 574,800 square nautical miles spanning a total coastline of 2,874nm from Senegal to Angola is a huge maritime space rich in numerous hydrocarbon and mineral resources and also serves as a strategic route for maritime trade.
Asides protecting Nigeria's territorial integrity, the NN also contributes its quota at the regional level, by patrolling the waters of the GoG. With the kick off of Exercise Secured Waters, the navy patrolled the endless miles of waterways.
According to the naval authorities, the exercise comes against the backdrop of cases of piracy in the GoG and the recent efforts to rejig the maritime security particularly in the Lagos Area. Within this context, they posted that maintaining their strategic deterrence posture and influence in the maritime environment is critical to Ygritte economic prosperity and regional stability.
Deployment
For the exercise, a total of 14 Nigerian Navy Ships, two helicopters and elements of the Nigerian Navy Special Boat Service (SBS) participated. The ships involved were NNS THUNDER, NNS OBULA, NNS PROSPERITY, NNS NWAMBA, NNS NGURU, NNS EKULU, NNS KARADUWA, NNS ANDONI, NNS SAGBAMA, NNS OSE, NNS ZARIA, NNS OKPOKU, TUG DOLPHIN RIMA and TUG DOLPHIN RIMA.
Exercises at Sea
At sea, the fleet conducted several exercises including anti-piracy operations, protection of oil and gas facilities, fleet maneuvers, communication, Vessel Board Search and Seizure (VBSS), Search and Rescue, among others.
Cardinal Priorities
At the flag off onboard NNS THUNDER at the jetty of Naval Dockyard in Victoria Island, Lagos, the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Rear Admiral Awwal Gambo, said the sea exercise was his inaugural sea exercise after his appointment as the 21st Indigenous CNS.
Notably, he said one of his cardinal priorities is to improve the operational efficiency of NN’s fleet in terms of sea readiness and availability for operational deployments in order to speedily boost navy’s capacity to meet their statutory maritime commitments.
This he said is in line with the mandate of President Muhammadu Buhari for the service to urgently restore normalcy in the nation’s maritime domain and emplace a conducive environment for maritime business to flourish.
“Exercise SECURED WATERS is thus part of my strategic intent to position the NN firmly towards my articulated vision in order to align strategic intent with execution. You would recall that on taking over command, my vision for the NN was ‘to leverage on all factors of national location, technology, training, teamwork and synergy to re-energise the NN and enhance her as a well-motivated and ready force in the discharge of her constitutional mandate and other assigned task in fulfilment of her national security objectives’.
”Accordingly, I am glad the First Quarter Sea Exercise is conceived to test a broad spectrum of maritime operations in order to enhance the security of Nigeria’s maritime domain to check criminality at sea.
“Over the past years, the NN has made significant progress in the fight against various forms of maritime crimes. The sustainment of the aforementioned gains is hence critical to our national survival, given the huge contribution of the nation’s strategic maritime resources to national prosperity and development.
“Today’s exercise is therefore a demonstration of the navy’s resolve to strengthen and consolidate on previous gains by acting decisively against pirates, sea robbers and other enemies of the state. Such strong commitment will further reassure our regional and international partners of our readiness to weather ongoing partnerships and collaboration towards our collective regional security.
“Understandably, a lot of logistics is required to put together an exercise of this magnitude. I must therefore appreciate the C-in-C of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, for his kind understanding and tireless provision for the NN, even in such difficult fiscal times.
“Once again, let me appreciate the FOC West, the Fleet Commander and all the officers and personnel of the Western Fleet for your zeal and determination to rid the nation’s maritime environment of all forms of criminality. I wish you all a successful exercise.”
Alignment
Asides other above listed objectives of the exercise, the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Western Naval Command (WNC), Rear Admiral Oladele Daji, said it presented an opportunity for the navy to align their training objectives with their operational requirements and provide a test bench for the planning and execution of their coordinated strike capabilities.
Breaking it down further, he said the exercise involves deployments of assets from all the three operations command and the Naval Training Command as well as adequate support from the Logistics Command and autonomous units.
“Being the first CNS sea exercise on assumption of command, the exercise presents an opportunity to evaluate and revise our operational and projected fleet response plans. This is with a view to attaining a focused alignment with the strategic guidance issued by the by CNS in his vision and mission statement. The exercise also provides the platform to align our training objectives with our operational requirements and provides a test bench for the planning and execution of our coordinated strike capabilities.
“It is also pertinent to state that the exercise comes against the backdrop of cases of piracy in the GoG and the recent efforts to rejig the maritime security particularly in the Lagos Area. Within this context, maintaining our strategic deterrence posture and influence in the maritime environment is critical to our economic prosperity and regional stability.
“It is my firm belief that the exercise will give additional impetus to our overall maritime combat experiences in order to ensure that the NN remains relevant not only in the defence of the territorial integrity of Nigeria but also in other contributions to the nation’s economic prosperity.
On behalf of the officers, ratings and civilian staff of the various commands and autonomous units, I express my profound appreciation to the CNS for providing the leadership, logistics and the necessary support for the execution of this sea exercise. On our part we will continue to work with our interagency partners to stamp out criminalities in our maritime domain and assure you that Exercise SECURED WATERS will reinforce our quest for a safe and secure maritime environment.
“To members of the public, let me once again reassure you that the NN will always be there to provide the necessary conducive environment to carry out legitimate businesses in our waterways. May I further request that as partners in progress, members of the public are free to divulge credible information to units in your localities in order get rid of all forms of criminality.”