Contrary to the reports of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) which put Nigeria on the top spot in global piracy rate, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has insisted that security in the country’s maritime space has been beefed up and improved in the past one year.
The IMO, in its global piracy reports for the first quarter 2018, rated Nigeria as number one in piracy while the second quarter gave further adverse rating of the country’s maritime security situation.
But responding to a question during the presentation of NIMASA’s half year 2018 reports, the Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, said the picture painted by the IMO report is erroneous. He explained that the IMO report should be placed in context, so that observers can understand what is going on.
He stated: “The specialized agency that keeps data on maritime crime and piracy is the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) based in Malaysia. Unfortunately, there is a bit of international politics in what is going on and those who do not understand what is going on will not understand.”