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by Tola Adenubi
Last month, passengers onboard ferry boats were kidnapped in Lagos while others were thrown into the lagoon in Rivers State while commuting on the waterways, signaling that kidnappers are focusing on the Nigeria’s brown waters, writes TOLA ADENUBI.
NIGERIAN blue waters had been a hotbed of incessant pirate raids on cargo vessels calling at its ports in past years, leading to Nigeria being labelled as the global hotspot for international piracy attacks by year 2020.
However, since then, Nigeria has recorded tremendous success in the quest to stem the menace of piracy in its waters following the launch in 2021 of the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure otherwise known as the Deep Blue Project.
The combined efforts of international navies patrolling the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) has seen a calmer blue-waters in recent months, leading to Nigeria scoring zero piracy attacks in 2022.
Volatile brown waters
However, same cannot be said of the nations inland waterways otherwise referred to as Brown waters. In the month of June 2023 alone, eight workers of an oil company were kidnapped in the Lagos inland waterways on their way to the Tin-Can port after close of work while two boats were seized in Rivers waterways by suspected pirates.
For residents plying the Port Harcourt-Abonnema-Kula waterways route in Rivers State, the last few weeks had been that of horror following incessant attacks by suspected sea robbers who come out from the various creeks lining the waterways routes to wreak havoc.
The last reported incident witnessed the throwing of a female passenger into the river, leaving other passengers terrified.
The pirates, who had hijacked two passenger boats, got angry when the female passenger won’t stop screaming. The screaming female passenger was subsequently thrown into the river by the pirates but was later rescued by nearby fishermen.
Speaking with newsmen after the attack, Chairman of the Rivers State Chapter of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Israel Pepple, expressed worry that attacks along the waterways have resurfaced after a noticeable calm.
According to Pepple, “As was learnt, the passengers were travelling from Abonema to Kula, both in the Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of the state, when the pirates attacked their boats in the middle of the sea.
“The boats were each carrying 12 passengers, most of who jumped into the river in a bid to escape abduction following the attack by the pirates.
“The pirates left with the two boats and all the goods that were onboard, mostly food stuffs.”
While the dust over the attack in Rivers State was yet to settle, some eight oil workers were also in June, kidnapped in the middle of the Lagos lagoon while returning from work to Tin-Can Island Port.
According to reports, among the kidnapped oil workers were the Managing Director and seven employees of a Lagos-based oil company.
The oil workers were kidnapped while in the boat and the boat they boarded was discovered later as drifting from where they were headed without them. Eyewitnesses said they were forced out of their boat into another boat that took them away. Their boat did not capsize and their belongings were intact.
It was also learnt that so far, the kidnappers are yet to get in touch with family members of the victims but sources hinted that they may be in serious discreet negotiation with the oil company where they hope to get huge sums of money as ransom.
Rising concerns
For some workers who live around littoral communities, the recent kidnap of the Managing Director of an oil company and some of his staff is a reminder that the nation’s inland waterways need more policing.
Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, a civil servant who identified himself as Ajayi Thomas called for more presence of security agencies on the nation’s brown waters.
According to Thomas, who claimed to have his house in Badagry but works at the Lagos Marina, “The recent kidnap of the Managing Director of an oil company is an eye opener that our inland waterways are poorly policed.
“Imagine if this had happened to common people like us, the incident could have gone unreported or even unnoticed.
“Sometimes, from Marina down to Badagry, you won’t come across any security patrol boat along the Lagos waterways. Imagine a trip of close to three hours, and you won’t see any security patrol boat along the way:
“Sometimes, we occasionally run into one or two around Liverpool waters, but they are not patrolling the area. They are probably coming from one of the many islands where oil companies operate. You will see them escorting some Very Important Personalities to the Liverpool jetty.
“Aside that area, if you take a boat ride to and fro Badagry and Marina, you will hardly come across any security patrol boat combing the route.
“So, I wasn’t surprised when news filtered in that a Managing Director of an oil company and seven of his staff had been kidnapped. Such scenario was waiting to happen.
“For the kidnappers to have operated and left without any intervention from anywhere shows the level of poor policing that we have on our inland waters. I just pray that with this development, the agency of government in-charge of inland waterways policing will see a need to deploy more patrol boats around the Lagos lagoon.”
An inland waterways expert, Mr Frank Meke called for increased patrol of the brown waters by men of the Marine Unit of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF).
“The recent kidnapping of some oil workers along the Tin-Can waterways by yet to be identified persons is a wake-up call for the Marine Unit of the NPF. The incident happened in the nation’s brown waters, so we cannot lay the blame at the doorsteps of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
“Much gains have been achieved in our coastal waters, but the brown waters remain exposed due to a lack of consistent patrol on our waterways.
“There is need for the Marine Unit of the NPF to up their game in terms of effectively policing of the nation’s inland waterways.”
