Page 7 - AfrOil Week 47 2022

AfrOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT AfrOil

Nigerian waters are no stranger to obscure and Much of the Nigerian Navy still consists of
conflictual situations connected to the coun- old ships, some transferred to Nigeria from the
try’s fight against piracy. The Gulf of Guinea has UK following independence in 1960, and decay-
overtaken Somalia to become the world’s piracy ing petrol boats donated by the Soviet Union
hotspot, holding the inglorious record since during the 1980s.
2012. According to the International Marine While Nigeria, often described as “Africa’s
Bureau (IMB), out of the 75 seafarers kidnapped economic giant,” is rich in natural resources,
for ransom globally in 2019, 62 took place in the many parts of the country – especially the rural
Gulf of Guinea, mostly off Nigerian coasts. areas – suffers from poverty and backwardness.
Last year, on November 24, 2021, a Danish The oil industry has long been accused of pol-
Navy sentry ship intercepted a pirate vessel off luting the Niger River Delta area (from where
the Nigerian coast and its soldiers killed four most pirates come), devastating local farming
Nigerian men in the ensuing armed confronta- and fishing and forcing young men into criminal
tion, sparking a legal dilemma and highlighting activities, which often include piracy.
the unsafety of Nigerian waters and the inability Pirates, often equipped with sophisticated
of the Nigerian Navy to monitor their area of weapons and tools, are looking to steal oil or
competence. goods from vessels, or take crews hostage to
This situation severely hampers the commer- cash in huge ransoms. Some pirates are believed
cial viability of the flourishing Nigerian ports, to have originated from political backgrounds,
and has led some countries – such as Denmark, namely the Marxist “Movement for the Emanci-
the UK and Spain – to step in and dispatch naval pation of the Niger Delta” (MEND). These “mil-
ships to guarantee the safe passage of their own itant” pirates mainly target oil tankers to retaliate
commercial vessels. These foreign military against oil corporations that have wrecked the
crews operate in a legal grey area and with lit- livelihood of the Niger Delta. However, many
tle co-ordination with Nigerian authorities but, other pirates are reportedly driven more plainly
apparently, their tacit approval. by “banditry and opportunist crime”, according
The country passed its first anti-piracy law, to a study by Prof. Chijioke J Nwalozie of the De
the SPOMO Act, in June 2019, in a bid to tackle Montfort University, Leicester.
the increasingly pressing problem. However, no Maritime transportation is a crucial sector
data analysing the scale of success of such laws is for Nigeria; the Gulf of Guinea is a critical mar-
available as of today, and piracy incidents keep itime route for international shipping, but not
being reported in the Gulf of Guinea. The fact an exclusive one. Vessels heading from Asia to
that foreign navies are still regularly deployed in Europe or America may choose to follow other
the gulf suggests that the implementation of the routes if insecurity persists, depriving Nigeria
SPOMO Act has been weak at best. of substantial revenues deriving from transit or
The country has also attempted to co-opt harbouring fees.
some convicted former pirates into its security Closer co-operation between navies (local
service, by appointing General Boyloaf as leader and foreign) and shipping companies is a pre-
of a maritime security outfit in his home state of requisite for successfully eradicating piracy in
Bayelsa in 2014. “The government was having the Gulf of Guinea. But the problem must first
serious security challenges in the creeks. They be solved at the source, tackling poverty offshore
chose me to deal with it, as the creeks are my in the Niger Delta area by promoting its devel-
terrain. I was born in the creeks, I fought against opment and improving living conditions.
the government in the creeks, and I will now use The SPOMO Act 2019 appears like a step in
that knowledge to hunt the pirates,” said Boyloaf, the right direction, but its recent instrumental
speaking after his appointment. application in prosecuting the Heroic Idun crew,
Whether this strategy has eventually paid the continuous meddling of foreign navies in
off is uncertain. Unfortunately, though, there the Gulf of Guinea as a result of the ill-equipped
have been numerous reports of political cor- Nigerian Navy and the lack of publicly available
ruption and even infiltration of ministries by figures on the law’s implementation still leave
criminal organisations devoted to piracy. many questions unanswered. ™

INVESTMENT
Tower Resources to borrow $7mn for Thali

ANGOLA THE London-based oil and gas company Tower that its local subsidiary, Tower Resources Cam-
Resources has received approval for a loan from eroon SA (TRCSA), had secured provisional
a Cameroonian bank towards carrying out a approval from the credit committee of a local
project in the Central African country. Cameroonian bank for a medium-term loan of
In a press release, Tower Resources revealed around $7mn.

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