Sea robbery: NPA, Navy join forces to tackle activities at illegal jetties, terminals
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) is joining forces with the Nigerian Navy to tackle the increasing cases of sea robbery along the country’s waters.
Daily Trust reliably learnt that both the NPA and the Navy have decided to beam their searchlight on activities around unlicensed terminals and jetties over allegations bordering on influx of smuggled items by criminals who use the areas as entry point.
It was believed that criminal gangs may also have been using unlicensed jetties to launch attacks on merchant ships.
Some stakeholders in the maritime industry had raised an alarm on high-level smuggling perpetrated through the various private jetties scattered across the nation’s waterfront, and warned on the security implications of unregulated operations at these facilities.
It was based on this alarm that the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Oladele Daji, recently deployed a team of naval officers to investigate the allegations.
Admiral Daji told Daily Trust that the Command had written to the NPA requesting for the list of approved jetties and container terminals in the Southwestern states.
Private jetties are expected to get their operational licences from either the NPA, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) or the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), depending on the location.
But rather than wait to get the necessary approvals from the relevant government agencies, some individuals have been operating illegally.
The unpatriotic act has created huge revenue leakages as such operators do not pay into any government account.
Some stakeholders have also alleged that some of these private jetties are so big that vessels even berth there illegally without the knowledge of the relevant government agencies.
A former President of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Inuwa Mohammed, confirmed this development, urging the federal government to take immediate action to curtail the level of illegalities going on in some of these facilities.
Mohammed expressed worry over the exact number of private jetties in the country, pointing out that as a result of the large and unaccounted number, security agencies are not deployed to all the facilities.
In his words, “The issue of private jetties is a big problem. Most of what they do is that they assist in smuggling because they operate on their own and from their own terminals.
“And they connive with other depots because the Customs will not have eyes everywhere. If Customs cannot control our borders, is it the private jetties that they will now send people to monitor? So this should not be allowed; it should be controlled.”
An NPA source said that management may be considering shutting down unapproved private jetties over illegalities.