Onwuka Nzeshi
30 October 2008
Abuja — The House of Representatives yesterday urged security agencies to take urgent steps to secure the release of the eight captains and 96 crew members of fishing vessels who were recently abducted to an unknown location by sea pirates in Bayelsa State.
The pirates were said to have demanded a hundred million naira as ransom for the captives. The House in plenary adopted a motion moved by Honourable Chuma Nzeribe and 97 others that the various security agencies be made to explain their inability to combat the increasing incidences of hijacking of fishing vessels in Nigerian territorial waters.
The lawmakers expressed worries about the cases of sea piracy in the coastal states of Lagos, Delta, Rivers, Ondo and Bayelsa. It warned that if the menace was not checked the cost of insurance cover for ship movement into Nigeria would increase and have negative effects on various sectors of the economy.
The House also expressed concern the unchallenged and growing trend of coastal piracy may be largely responsible for the growing cases of theft of Nigerian crude oil estimated at about 500,000 barrels per day.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, directed the House Committees on Navy, Marine Transport as well as National Security and Intelligence to investigate the incidents, ascertain the reasons for the inability of the security agencies to move swiftly to save lives and property on the waterways, establish the adequacy of the measures used in protecting the water ways as well as their level of preparedness fight coastal crime.
The Joint Committees is expected to conduct its investigations and report its findings and recommendations to the House within sixty legislative days.
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