Nigerian Navy’s operations improved maritime domain security in 2021- CNS
Security operations of the Nigerian Navy have helped in achieving remarkable reduction in the cases of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.
Chief of the Naval Staff(CNS), Vice-Admiral Awwal Gambo, made the mention when he gave a scorecard of the navy’s operations in 2021.
He made reference to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) Global Piracy Report of 14 July 2021, which indicates the lowest total of piracy and sea robbery against ships in 27 years.
According to the CNS, there were only 11 incidents of pirate attacks recorded in the Gulf of guinea in 2021, compared to 44 incidents reported in 2020.
He said there has been a marked decline in piracy in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) in 2021 with 11 pirate incidents recorded compared to 44 in 2020.While the nation recorded only three sea robbery attacks in 2021, there were 16 sea robberies report in 2020.
Gambo said the figures were proof of the effectiveness of the Nigerian Navy maritime security operations.
The CNS also said that in 2021, the Nigerian Navy arrested 44 vessels involved in illegal bunkering in the country, which led to the recovery of N55.1 billion worth of crude oil as well as Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) worth N11.8 billion.
According to him, the volume of crude oil recovered was about 1.7 barrels of crude and 45,753 metric tons of AGO.
