In reaction to recent spike in piracy incidents in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG), the Nigerian Navy (NN) weekend, said it has sustained the presence of capital ships at sea as well as directed operations bases to enhance efforts to dominate their areas of operations.
The Nigerian Navy also said no incident of piracy occurred within the Nigerian Maritime Environment (NME) and that the area is safe for maritime and economic activities.
Director of Information Nigerian Navy, Commodore Ayo Vaughan in a press statement, disclosed that the Nigerian Navy would continue to sustain its presence in Nigerian maritime environment in order to deter any form of criminality.
Commodore Vaughan stated that the Nigerian Navy has equally continued to employ her surveillance infrastructure to monitor shipping activities within the nation’s maritime environment and will continue to exploit intelligence to track activities of criminals in order to maintain sanctity of the Nigerian Maritime Environment (NME).
He revealed that the spate of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) within the last 10 years reduced to an all-time low in 2022.
Giving more updates about piracy situation in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) Commodore Vaughan explained that while concerted efforts are being made to reduce piracy within the GoG to its lowest minimum, two unfortunate incidences were recorded within the GoG in the last 3 weeks.
“The first incident which involved the hijack of Motor Tanker (MT) MONJASA REFORMER occurred on 25 March 2023 at a location144 nautical mile (nm) West-South-West (WSW) of Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo.
“It was later discovered that the pirates abducted 6 crew members from the vessel. The second incident involved the hijack of MT SUCCESS-9 about 306 nm SW of Abidjan Fairway Buoy (FWB), Cote d’Ivoire on 10 April 2023,” he revealed.
He stressed that the Nigerian Navy vectored Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) GONGOLA to rendezvous MT MONJASA REFORMER in company of NNS KANO and a French Warship to escort the vessel to Lome, Togo.
He enjoined all seafarers to continue to carry out their legitimate businesses without fear, adding that in securing the Nigerian maritime environment and Gulf of Guinea in general.
“The Nigerian Navy appreciates the efforts of international partners under the Coordinated Maritime Presence arrangement as well as the support of other maritime stakeholders that play other roles in the collective security of the Gulf of Guinea,” he added.