In response to the recent increase in piracy in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG), the Nigerian Navy (NN) has maintained the presence of her capital ships at sea and instructed operational bases to intensify efforts to control their areas of operations.
This was said in a statement released on Sunday in Abuja by Commodore Adedotun Ayo-Vaughan, Director of Information for the Nigerian Navy.
According to Ayo-Vanghan, the recent wave of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) decreased to an all-time low in 2022.
Despite deliberate attempts to keep piracy in the GoG to a minimum, he said that two regrettable incidents had been reported there in the previous three weeks.
He claims that on March 25 at a position 144 nautical miles (nm) west-southwest of Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo, the first incident involving the hijacking of Motor Tanker (MT) MONJASA REFORMER took place.
He said that it was subsequently found that the pirates had taken six crew members hostage from the ship.
The second incident occurred on April 10 when MT Success-9 was hijacked 306 nautical miles southwest of Abidjan Fairway Buoy (FWB), Cote d’Ivoire.
It’s important to mention that the NN directed the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) GONGOLA to meet the MT MONJASA REFORMER at Lome, Togo, along with the NNS KANO and a French Warship.
In order to maintain the integrity of the Nigerian Maritime Environment (NME), the NN has also continued to use her surveillance equipment to keep an eye on shipping operations inside the country’s maritime environment. The NN will also keep using intelligence to track criminal activity.
In order to do this, he stated, “The NN enjoins all seafarers to continue to conduct their lawful businesses without fear.”
The navy official said that there had been no instances of piracy inside NME and that the region was still secure for commercial and nautical operations.
He pledged that Nigerian Navy will maintain its credible presence in order to dissuade illegal activity of any kind.
“In securing the NME and GoG 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 GoG,” he said.
