Navy admits burning vessels with stolen crude wrong, proposes new approach

The Nigerian Navy has admitted its practice of burning vessels intercepted with stolen crude oil was not proper.

The Navy’s admision comes after criticism from Nigerians and stakeholders in the maritime industry who have expressed concerns about the environmental impact of the practice.

Speaking during a stakeholders meeting with the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) in Lagos on Thursday, Flag Officer Commanding, Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Mustapha Hassan acknowledged that burning vessels is not the best approach.

He hinted that the Navy is exploring alternative models, such as allowing seized vessels to continue operations while awaiting court decisions.

His words, “I strongly agree with you that we shouldn’t be burning vessels, we have models on the table that we are trying to push forward, also we keep vessels for too long, and they go bad. There are models we are thinking about, may be if a vessel is still in court, the owner can continue managing the vessel, we have about three formulars on ground and we want to see how it would work ”

The FOC stressed the need for improved collaboration between the Navy and NIMASA on boarding and inspection of vessels particularly regarding cases with Automatic Identification System (AIS) infringements.

According to him, there is need for NIMASA to treat cases with AIS infringement expeditiously whenever they are handed over to them rather than keep the vessels for months.

He added that the implementation of the Cabotage Act by NIMASA has not been effective.

He said, “The Navy has been collaborating with NIMASA on the Deep Blue project towards fighting piracy and all but the cabotage Act has really had no push over the years. The Director of cabotage I expect a lot from you towards making things work in this regime. So there is a need for us to collaborate towards boarding and inspection of vessels.”

Hassan said there is a lot of money to make in the implementation of the Cabotage Act, adding that the Nigerian Navy is ready and will extend its support to NIMASA to treat these cases expeditiously in the coming months.

“There are many things, there are fines and money to be made while implementing the Cabotage Act and there is a need to hit the ground running. I have seen your strides already and I have no doubt,” he told the NIMASA DG.

He added, “We are already doing our bits tpwards enforcing other infringements but I also need NIMASA to treat these cases expeditiously, whenever we handover a case to you for AIS infringement, we don’t expect you to keep that vessel for a month or more”