The Port Facility
Security Officers Forum of Nigeria, PFSOFN has thrown its weight behind the
stoppage and cancellation of the Secured Anchorage Area, SAA saying that it is
absurd to have allowed such an arrangement in the first place.
Speaking at the just-concluded annual conference held in
Lagos, the group’s Vice Chairman, Dr. Ignatius Uche, said the entire maritime
space belongs to Nigeria and as such the entire space should also be well
secured.
Uche also said that the secured anchorage area is a segregation
of the nation’s maritime space, a development he said was not good for a
maritime country like Nigeria. He explained that the secured anchorage area is
likened to a house being built by a man that says a particular part of the
house is secured while the other part is not secured. He said: “Our
organization supports the elimination and removal of the secured anchorage
area, the entire maritime space belongs to Nigeria, the 200 nautical miles is
within Nigeria’s authority that is our economic exclusive zone. “So why do you
carve out a particular area and call it secure anchorage area so if a vessel is
not within that area, the vessel is not secured, meaning that it is susceptible
to attack? “The decision to cancel the secured anchorage area is a step in the
right direction because it will only segregate our maritime domain rather than
making it holistic. The security of the nation’s maritime domain is supposed to
be holistic and not segregating a particular area and designating as a secured
area.” He disclosed that the Nigerian Ports Authority was not part of the
initial agreement of the Secured Anchorage Area, that is why it is kicking
against it. “Looking at twenty-first-century security, we should not be talking
about secured anchorage, it is laughable, other countries will begin to laugh
at us. How do you that this area is secured and that area is not secured, in
fact, the acronym SAA alone does not speak well of us as a nation. I think
the decision is a step in the right direction and I think it should be
sustained,” he stated.