Daily Independent (Lagos)
Andrew Airahuobhor
24 June 2009
Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, (NIMASA), Dr. Ade Dosunmu, has said that the security in the Lagos waters has improved due largely to the activities of the Maritime Guard Command, in collaboration with the naval base in Lagos.
The DG stated this when members of the committee set up by the Chief of Defence Staff to look into areas of possible collaboration between the Presidential Committee on Maritime Safety, PICOMMS, and other stakeholders in the nation's maritime domain.
This collaboration, he said, is expected to spread to the other zones under the auspices of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the agency and the Nigerian Navy.
In his welcome address to the five-man committee led by Air Vice Marshal Alex Barde, the NIMASA boss said that the agency is collaborating with PICOMMS to secure the maritime domain and ensure effective implementation of international conventions, which the country has domesticated.
Under the platform of the ongoing collaboration, Dosunmu told the committee that PICOMS has agreed to release its Diamond maritime patrol aircraft for the agency's use.
He pointed out that it is expected that this Aircraft which has facility for real-time data and picture capture, will go a long way in monitoring security breaches in the nation's maritime domain.
Underscoring the need for more synergy among government agencies to ensure effective use, the Committee chairman, Barde said that PICOMMS has eleven coastal Radars and other security equipment, which are national assets.
Barde told NIMASA officials that the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Paul Dike, was desirous of ensuring that the armed forces partner with PICOMMS and other relevant government agencies to make effective use of this equipment which he described as national assets.
The Chief of Defence Staff Committee on possible areas of collaboration between PICOMS and other stakeholders in the Nigerian maritime domain has representation from the Nigerian Army, the Air force and the Nigerian navy.
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This is a welcome and overdue development, though the Navy and the other two services had been cooperating with NIMASA since PICCOMS was established. It is right that these relationships be properly established. There is also the need that drills and dry run excercises be designed and practised between NIMASA and the Armed forces. Perhaps the NPA should also be involved. Piracy is major challenge but there are more serious threats such as militant attacks on vessels and oil/gas establishments. Arms smuggling and possibilities of suicide attacks have grave consequences. I head a safety and security consulting company that is interested in maritime security and safety. I wish Dr Dosumu well in his cool headed and methodical approach to making our waters safe and trouble free.