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The Nigerian Navy, Saturday has said, no incident of piracy occurred within the Nigerian Maritime Environment (NME) and that the area is safe for maritime and economic activities as the Nigerian Navy would continue to sustain credible presence to deter any form of criminality.
Director of Information, Commodore AO Ayo Vaughan in a press statement noted that in reaction to the recent spike in piracy incidents in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG), the Nigerian Navy (NN) has sustained presence of her capital ships at sea as well as directed operations bases to enhance efforts to dominate their Areas of Operations.
Commodore Vaughan stated that the Nigerian Navy has equally continued to employ her surveillance infrastructure to monitor shipping activities within the nation’s maritime environment and will continue to exploit intelligence to track activities of criminals in order to maintain sanctity of the Nigerian Maritime Environment (NME).
He revealed that the spate of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) within the last 10 years reduced to an all time low in 2022.
Giving more updates about piracy situation in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) Commodore Vaughan in the statement explains that while concerted efforts are being made to reduce piracy within the GoG to its lowest minimum, two unfortunate incidences were recorded within the GoG in the last 3 weeks.
"The first incident which involved the hijack of Motor Tanker (MT) MONJASA REFORMER occurred on 25 March 2023 at a location144 nautical mile (nm) West-South-West (WSW) of Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo.
"It was later discovered that the pirates abducted 6 crew members from the vessel. The second incident involved the hijack of MT SUCCESS-9 about 306 nm SW of Abidjan Fairway Buoy (FWB), Cote d’Ivoire on 10 April 2023." he revealed.
He stressed that, the Nigerian Navy vectored Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) GONGOLA to rendezvous MT MONJASA REFORMER in company of NNS KANO and a French Warship to escort the vessel to Lome, Togo.
The Nigerian Navy therefore enjoins all seafarers to continue to carry out their legitimate businesses without fear, adding that, in securing the NME and GoG in general, the Nigerian Navy appreciates the efforts of international partners under the Coordinated Maritime Presence arrangement as well as the support of other maritime stakeholders that play other roles in the collective security of the GoG.