Nigeria to prosecute pirates under new anti-piracy law
Lagos -- The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, has restated its commitment to collaboration among relevant agencies and stakeholders for the security of the country’s maritime domain.
Director-General of the Agency, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, stated this in Lagos during the official handover of pirates arrested by the Nigerian Navy for prosecution.
The 10 pirates had on May 15 attacked and boarded a Chinese vessel, MV HAILUFANG II, off the coast of Côte d'Ivoire and directed it towards Nigerian waters. They were arrested by the Nigerian Navy, which dispatched a ship to intercept the vessel after it got an alert.
The prosecution of the pirates would be the first trial of bandits arrested in international waters under the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences, SPOMO, Act signed into law in June last year by President Muhammadu Buhari. The law made Nigeria the first in West and Central Africa to have a distinct
antipiracy legislation.
Jamoh attributed the successful operation that led to the arrest of the pirates and rescue of the ship and its crew to collaboration between NIMASA and the Nigerian Navy.
He said the agency will continue to work with relevant security agencies in order to achieve its goal of eradicating piracy and all forms of illegality on the Nigerian waters.
The Director-General stated: “We have just witnessed the handover of pirates. This is as a result of the robust collaboration between NIMASA and the Nigerian Navy. There has been a lot of synergy between NIMASA and the Navy with regard to the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences Act.
“I also want to seize the opportunity to thank Mr. President for signing the antipiracy law, which would facilitate sufficient prosecution of these pirates.” Jamoh, who was represented by the Agency’s Head of Legal Services, Mr. Victor Egejuru, assured that with the anti-piracy law, there was ample legal framework to prosecute pirates and other perpetrators of maritime offences in the country to bring the menace to the barest minimum.