As part of efforts to boost and sustain the ongoing anti-piracy campaign not only in the country but also across the Gulf of Guinea, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency NIMASA has taken delivery of additional mobile assets for enhanced maritime security under its deep blue project.

The new assets comprise two unmanned aircraft system, nine interceptor patrol boats and 10 armoured vehicles, which are being added to the existing assets earlier procured by the Federal Government and commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari .

Speaking on the delivery of these new assets, Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, while thanking President Buhari for his sustained support in the fight against sea piracy and other maritime crimes, said the additional equipment will improve on the gains recorded in securing the Gulf of Guinea and Nigeria’s maritime domain.

Jamoh described the recently held Gulf of Guinea Maritime Collaboration Forum GOG-MCF/SHADE in Abuja as a success in rallying international support in the suppression of maritime insecurity and pledged to sustain Nigeria’s commitment in always strengthening regional maritime security.

He recommended Nigeria’s Suppression of Piracy and other Maritime Offences SPOMO Act 2019 enacted as a robust statute that supports maritime law enforcement should be replicated by other countries within the region to order to sustain the campaign on a regional basis.

“Nigerina is improving on her capacity to fight maritime crime by procuring state of the art technology, upgrading human capacity for effective service delivery and deployment of the assets for round the clock patrol, interdiction and reconnaissance with the support of Nigerian Navy and other security agencies we signed MoU.

“Indeed we are further encouraged by President Muhammadu Buhari’s support all the time to ensure adequate security of crew members, vessels and cargoes within and around our waters

” These newly procured assets would assist us in building on the gains already recorded in the fight against piracy, sea robbery, oil theft, kidnapping, illegal fishing activities and others”, the DG said.

The main objective of the Deep Blue Project is to secure Nigerian waters up to the Gulf of Guinea. The Project has three categories of platforms to tackle maritime security on land, sea, and air.

The land assets include the Command, Control, Communication, Computer, and Intelligence Centre (C4i) for intelligence gathering and data collection; 16 armoured vehicles for coastal patrol; and 600 specially trained troops for interdiction, known as Maritime Security Unit.

Before the recently procured platforms , the deep blue project had sea assets including two Special Mission Vessels and 17 Fast Interceptor Boats.

The air assets comprised of two Special Mission Aircraft for surveillance of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone EEZ; three Special Mission Helicopters for search and rescue operations; and four Unmanned Aerial Vehicles among several other assets.