The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety
Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside has expressed the Agency’s desire to
work with other stakeholders and expedite action on the passage of the
Anti-Piracy and Other related Crimes at Sea into law.
The DG who stated this at a 4-day workshop organised by the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in collaboration with the United States
Government which held in Lagos recently, explained that the bill is
necessary to provide the requisite framework for the fight, prosecution
and punishment of piracy and related maritime crimes in Nigeria.
Dr. Peterside who thanked participants at the workshop also called on them
to do a thorough job so as to ensure early passage into law when presented
to the National Assembly as it will reduce the legislative input that may
cause delays.
He assured participants and maritime stakeholders that the Agency would
collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Transportation, the Federal
Ministry of Justice and all relevant stakeholders to ensure early
conclusion of work on the draft bill and ultimate transmission to the
National Assembly for enactment.
Mr. GuiseppeSernia and Philip Drew both of the UNODC were facilitators at
the workshop where it was agreed that the Federal Ministry of Justice, the
Nigerian Navy and NIMASA will meet again to fine tune the draft
anti-piracy bill before sending it to the Federal Ministry of
Transportation for presentation to the Federal Executive Council and
ultimate transmission to the National Assembly.
The workshop which focused on developing a robust anti-piracy bill aimed
at dealing with piracy and other related maritime crimes had in attendance
Justices of the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court, prosecutors
from the Directorate of Public Prosecution of the Federal Ministry of
Justice and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as well as
officials from the Nigerian Navy and NIMASA.
The Anti-Piracy bill which is an initiative of NIMASA was conceived to
incorporate the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and the Suppression of
Unlawful Acts at Sea (SUA) conventions of the International Maritime
Organisation (IMO) into a comprehensive legislation to deal with the
menace of piracy and related crimes in the Nigerian maritime domain.