“Fifteen seafarers have been taken hostage by pirates from a Maltese-flagged products tanker Davide B offshore Nigeria,” reports Seatrade Maritime News dated March 12, 2021.
The report added that the 19,800 dwt product tanker with a crew of 21 onboard was sailing from Latvia to Delta State when it was boarded by nine armed pirates some 220 nautical miles south of Lagos.
A week after this incident, one too many in the Gulf of Guinea, which is bordered by other countries including Ghana, a multinational naval training exercise is taking place in the gulf to sharpen the policing skills of the navies in the participating nations.
A destabilised Gulf of Guinea presupposes a disrupted international trade between the countries of West Africa and the rest of the world.
The pirated ship could have been heading to Ghana, which is as vulnerable as Nigeria and others sharing the Gulf of Guinea.
News about the incident, when the details were not yet out, ruffled Ghanaian importers whose seabound imports use the route now the turf of the pirates.
When such incidents become rampant, they tend to raise the risk element in maritime insurance, a fact which impacts negatively on business in general.
Eighteen maritime incidents have been recorded this year in the Gulf of Guinea, and the year is not yet midway.
Maritime illegalities also have national security implications upon the countries bordering the Gulf of Guinea and even neighbouring landlocked countries further afield who, of course, use the seaports of their neighbours.
It is for the foregoing reason that a landlocked country like Niger is taking part in the ongoing maritime exercise being hosted this year by Ghana, the manoeuvres entailing both sea and land segments.
‘Exercise Obangame Express’ has been launched in both Accra and Lagos, the navies of the two countries among a host of others partaking in the sea and shore training exercise.
The US is supporting the manoeuvres immensely as she has done over the years. The positive impact of the exercise is to enhance the knowledge of the navies in ensuring a pirate-free Gulf of Guinea among other merits.
As the Chief of the Defence Staff Rear Admiral Seth Amoama observed, a lot of illegalities are perpetuated by pirates of criminals on the sea.
Both Nigeria and Ghana are saddled with the rising incidence of illegal possession of assault firearms. These weapons are smuggled into these countries using both sea and land routes.
The role of our navies in halting the smuggling of weapons from as far as Yemen or even Syria cannot be overemphasised.
While we are grateful to the US for its leading support role in the manoeuvres, it is our hope that the lessons learnt will go a long way in ensuring that the Somalia-style piracy does not gain a foothold in our part of the world.
In future manoeuvres, we ask that the navy chiefs consider educating our local fishermen about the dangers posed by piracy and how to report suspected incidents to the naval authorities.
This Long John Silver-style buccaneering on our high seas must be halted before it develops into an uncontrollable demon on the Gulf of Guinea. We wish the participating navies and others incident-free manoeuvres.