Recaliberating maritime governance to engender improved revenue, operational efficiency and maritime security

By Olugbenga Leke Oyewole


We definitely cannot continue to do the same things in the same way and expect a different outcome. Oil theft, revenue leakage and insecurity in our maritime domain now looks like insurmountable giants because our approach is wrong and the change, we crave is presently bereft of political will.

Three significant things must be in place for Nigeria and indeed nations in the Gulf of Guinea to optimize the potential in our coastal waters:

● Robust Maritime Domain Awareness

● Automated Inter-Agency Electronic Platform

● Adequate Patrol Platforms for the Navy.

A robust maritime domain awareness transcends having just coastal or satellite Automatic Identification System, AIS. It must encompass capability to track AIS, Radar, onboard VHF or UHF radio communication systems including EPIRB transmissions and high resolution imagery. This will make it almost impossible for a ship operating in the coast not to be tracked or monitored; and, that includes barges and those ships that deliberately switch off transponders to avoid been detected. It must embed the capability to independently geolocate ship position irrespective of the AIS transmitted position – this is to put an end to the fraud of ships not in Nigeria but transmitting on AIS that they are in Nigeria so that they can claim demurrage in due course. An acceptable domain awareness infrastructure must be able to geofence ports, terminals and maritime boundaries of Nigeria in order to alert agencies of government and relevant stakeholders of new entrants in the country, arrivals at anchorage or ports and the departures as the case may be. The domain awareness must contain intelligent analytics good enough to flag irregular ship movement, ships without prior notice of arrival, ships not nominated to be at a terminal, identify pollution whenever and wherever it occurs, provide ocean meteorology enroute ship voyages, make electronic coastal charts available and keep historical records among other things. We need to end indiscriminate purchase of maritime surveillance antennas. We can operate one robust system serving the Navy, NPA, NIMASA and the Customs on agency need basis. The National Space Research and Development Agency of Nigeria reserve these capabilities and should be tapped into by the relevant agencies.

https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2019/10/15/recalibrating-maritime-governance-in-nigeria/