FG Committed To Eradicating Sea Crime, Says Peterside

…As NIMASA Undertakes Surveillance Training For Security Agencies

 The DG NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, some Management Staff of the Agency,  foreign instructors with the granduands in Lagos during the graduation ceremony of the special integrate course maritime surveillance and  security in Lagos, February 6, 2019.

 

In its effort to rid the Nigerian maritime domain of criminalities, the Federal Government through the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has undertaken surveillance training for officers from the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Air Force, Nigeria Police, the Department of State Services (DSS), and NIMASA, on the C4I Integrated Surveillance Systems operation.

The system will aid the coordinated view of the entire Nigerian maritime domain.

Speaking yesterday at the graduation ceremony held at the Nigerian Maritime Resource Development Centre (NMRDC), Lagos, Director General of the Agency, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, restated the government’s determination to ensure that the country’s territorial waters was free of piracy and all forms of maritime crime in order to facilitate economic development.

Dakuku added that the C4I Integrated Surveillance Systems operation, organised by the agency in conjunction with an Israeli security firm, HLSi Security Systems and Technologies Limited, was another step towards building human capacity for the maritime industry, particularly the Deep Sea project.

While noting that crime free waters would further boost the investment opportunities in the nation’s blue economy, Dr Peterside added that the agency was aware of the issues that made the Gulf of Guinea one of the most challenging maritime domains in terms of security.

This, he said, was why NIMASA was attacking the issue on all fronts, including sponsoring a bill that will make cases relating to piracy and other sea crimes to be decisively dealt with to serve as a deterrent to potential perpetrators.

In his remarks, the Nigerian Representative of HLSI, Mr Mickey Gaash, commended the participants for their exemplary conduct during the programme, adding that they would also attend and advanced training on surveillance

The first batch of twenty two (22) graduates from the programme, who are to proceed to the intelligence gathering stage of the training schedule, were selected from all the participating armed forces branches and security agencies including the Army, Navy, Air Force, DSS and NIMASA.