The Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo has called on the judiciary to complement the efforts of the Nigerian Navy and other maritime security agencies in ensuring that cases of sea piracy, illegal bunkering and other illicit activities receive speedy trials.
Vice Admiral Gambo made the call during a lecture on his mission and vision for the Nigerian Navy to participants of the Naval War College Course 6 in Calabar.
Gambo noted that there was need for the existing loop holes in the judicial process, which revolves around lengthy trial periods, to be closed due to its exploitation by criminal elements.
He observed that the endless trial periods were responsible for prolonged litigations and several abandoned vessels across Nigerian Navy bases.
According to him, “the effect of this lengthy trial processes to the Nigerian Navy is evident in instances where out of the 488 vessels arrested between 2015 till date, 234 were handed over to prosecuting agencies.
“Yet, only 52 have been successfully prosecuted, while others were still in the Nigerian Navy custody. Beyond the logistic and man power committed to this process, the Nigerian Navy expend enormous resources to preserve and keep over 100 detained vessels afloat,” he said.
Legal framework
The CNS suggested that a legal framework to enable the navy prosecute maritime crimes would suffice as further deterrent to criminals and lessen burden of holding seized vessels in custody.
Gambo reasoned that the navy was not backed by law to prosecute maritime suspects in court agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Nigeria Police and similar organisations.
He said, “the service rely on lawyers from the Ministry of Defense and other security agencies, while retaining services of private lawyers to prosecute maritime criminals.
“Even though the navy has an established Directorate of Legal Services with the current strength of over 600 qualified lawyers, in the last four years, the Navy has lost a significant number of cases due to non-diligent prosecution.
“The service has also expended almost N300 Million on services provided by private lawyers at the expense of other essential infrastructure,” he lamented.
On provision of other operational equipment for efficiency, the CNS commended the Nigerian Government for its interventions, noting that there more infrastructure to accomplish its strategic mandate.
- VON
