A 2021 second quarter report on global maritime security by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has acknowledged improvement of security in the Gulf of Guinea since the recent launch of the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure otherwise known as the Deep Blue Project by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on Thursday June 10th inaugurated the project at the ENL Terminal, Apapa Port, Lagos.
Buhari said ‘‘I am confident that the project, which provides a robust maritime security architecture, will enhance maritime domain awareness capability and improve law enforcement action, particularly in the prosecution of suspects under the Suppression of Piracy and other Maritime Offences Act which I signed into law in June 2019.”
The IMB Second Quarter (Q2) 2021 report on the global reduction of piracy in 27 years in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea region affirmed a drop in the number of kidnapping cases in the GoG for the second quarter of 2021 as the lowest since Q2 of 2019.
The documents showed that While 33 incidents of piracy were reported in the last quarter of 2020, only 6 have so far occurred in the second quarter of 2021.
Also among the cheering news in the IMB report is a reduction of cases of kidnapping of crew in the region which sharply dropped from 50 to 10 incidents between the last quarter of 2020 and the second quarter of 2021.
IMB Director, Michael Howlett commended the Nigerian government efforts aimed at tackling the challenge of piracy in the region and said that reporting all incidents to the Regional Authorities and IMB PRC will ensure seafarers maintain pressure against pirates.
