The Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Ghada Wali, has applauded Nigeria for its leadership role and commitment towards curbing maritime crimes.
Wali’s commendations come after Nigeria’s first-ever successful piracy prosecution, the first in Africa.
Head, Strategic Communication, Office of the National Security Adviser, Zakari Usman, disclosed this in a statement he signed on Thursday, titled ‘UN commends Nigeria over the first-ever successful conviction of piracy in Africa’.
Wali, who gave the commendation in New York, also noted that the successful collaboration between Nigeria and UNODC—as evidenced by the Global Maritime Crime Programme and the Strategic Vision for Africa launched in 2021—has encouraged the organisation to extend its partnership beyond national governments to regional organisations.
“Indeed, one of the gaps identified by the Federal Government of Nigeria in the fight against maritime crimes was the weak legal and institutional framework for prosecuting offenders. In response, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on June 24, 2019, assented to the Suppression of Piracy and other Maritime Offences Bill,” the statement read.
By the POMO Act, Nigeria became the first country in the West and Central African sub-regions to promulgate a stand-alone law against piracy.
The Act also domesticates the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982, and the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, 1988.
“But aside from creating a legal and institutional framework for prosecuting maritime crimes, the Federal Government has also prioritised the provision of maritime intelligence facilities. For instance, President Buhari commissioned a state-of-the-art Falcon Eye Maritime Intelligence Facility at the Naval Headquarters in Abuja in 2021.”
The setup and operationalisation of the project were facilitated by the Office of the National Security Adviser as part of efforts to boost Nigeria’s overall maritime security architecture, in accordance with the National Security Strategy, under which kidnapping of oil workers, sea robbery/piracy, incessant crude oil theft, illegal bunkering, hostage-taking and maritime terrorism are classified as national security threats.
The commendation by UNODC, therefore, places enormous responsibility on Nigeria to lead innovative efforts towards the fight against maritime crimes in the Gulf of Guinea and across the continent, especially in the areas of intelligence sharing and coordinated legal strategy.
The Office of the National Security Adviser said it is committed to ongoing national, regional and international collaboration to strengthen legal, administrative and operational efforts in line with national maritime security objectives.
