NIGERIAN MARITIME SECURITY INADEQUATE ACCORDING TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 LAGOS 000240 SIPDIS STATE PASS FOR USAID/AFR/WA TWAY, AFR/SD DATWOOD, AND EGAT MOTT STATE PASS TO USTR-AGAMA BAGHDAD FOR MCCULLOUGH BOTSWANA FOR DROUIN NSC FOR MICHELLE GAVIN AND KAREN O'DONNELL DOC FOR 3317/ITA/OA/KBURRESS AND 3130/USFC/OIO/ANESA/DHARRIS TREASURY FOR PETERS AND HALL COMUSNAVEUR FOR ANAGGIAR E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/31/2019 TAGS: PGOV EWWT ECON KCRM SENV NI SUBJECT: NIGERIAN MARITIME SECURITY INADEQUATE ACCORDING TO MASTER MARINERS Classified By: Consul General Donna Blair, Reasons 1.4 (B,D) ¶1. (C) Summary: On May 12 the Nigerian Association of Master Mariners (NAMM) hosted a conference on "Maritime Security in Nigerian Waters" to highlight the severe maritime security challenges confronting Nigeria. The President of NAMM, Captain Adejimi Adu, said that, according the International Maritime Bureau, Nigeria is second only to Somalia in the number of incidents of armed attacks against ships, and he claimed that Nigeria is the country with the highest number of casualties resulting from attacks on shipping. Ships are subject to armed attacks not only on the high seas off Nigeria's coast, but in coastal and inland waterways, while at anchor, and when in port. The consequences of the failure of the Nigerian government to provide maritime security was not just piracy and sea-robbery, but an environment that fostered smuggling of arms, drugs and stolen oil, trafficking in persons, poaching of marine resources, and uncontrolled pollution of the maritime environment. Adu blamed the GON for failing to secure its waters. To counter the rapidly growing problem, he called for increased control of all vessels entering and leaving Nigerian waters and ports, the creation of a central data base for reporting maritime incidents, and a memorandum of understanding with other maritime nations to enforce existing maritime law and provide protection to shipping in Nigerian waters. The Nigerian Navy's lack of response to the alarming levels of violence against ships in Nigerian waters is a reflection of lack of capacity, GON indifference and the absence of political will to take rigorous measures. End Summary. NAMM: Nigerian Piracy More Brutal than Somali Piracy -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) A conference on "Maritime Security in Nigerian Waters" hosted by the Nigerian Association of Master Mariners (NAMM) in Lagos on May 12 highlighted the severe security challenges that confront ship owners and crewmen operating in Nigerian ports and waters. The conference was attended by representatives of the Federal Ministry of Transportation, the Lagos Commissioner of Transportation, two senior officers of the Nigerian Navy, a representative of the International Maritime Organization (IMO),the president of the Indigenous Shipowners' Association of Nigeria (ISAN) and the president of the Nigerian Trawler Owners' Association (NITOA) as well as various members of NAMM, ISAN and NITOA. Using statistics from the International Maritime Bureau (IMB),a private sector monitoring group located in Malaysia, NAMM showed that Nigeria is second only to Somalia in the number of armed attacks against ships in its waters, but pointed out that the number of incidents of armed sea robbery in Nigerian waters may in fact exceed those in Somalia because many incidents go unreported. IMB listed 40 attacks on vessels off the Nigerian coast in 2008 while NAMM believes that the actual number of attacks was between 150 and 200. ¶3. (U) The President of NAMM, Captain Adejimi Adu, claimed that the number of fatalities resulting from piracy and armed sea robbery in Nigeria far exceeded those reported in Somalia. According to Adu, a Nigerian fisherman dies almost every week in armed attacks. NITOA president, Margaret Orakwusi, added that the sea robbers operating off Nigeria's coast are exceptionally brutal, citing one instance where a crew member was killed by being locked in the refrigerator of the ship, another in which a crewman's legs were cut off before he was thrown overboard, and a third where a crewman was shot in the stomach and then thrown overboard. NAMM reminded participants that there were multiple incidents of passenger ferries in the Port Harcourt and Bonny area being LAGOS 00000240 002 OF 003 attacked by sea robbers who then raped, held for ransom or killed passengers. Insecurity from Dockside to High Seas -------------- ¶4. (U) NAMM said armed attacks on vessels in Nigerian waters occur not only on the high seas and in territorial waters but on inland waterways, at anchorages and even while ships are tied up in port. The target of armed sea robbery ranged from oil tankers and oil supply vessels to fishing trawlers, barges, tug boats and passenger ferries. Incidents of armed robbers using small, fast boats to board ships at night while they were in port or at anchorage have been particularly common at Tin Can Island in Lagos Port, within the anchorage off Lagos harbor, and at the Bonny Island offshore oil loading platform. There are over 150 ships at anchor outside of Lagos Port; NAMM believes that many of these vessels, 90% of which it claims are unregistered and derelict, are used as "mother ships" for the small pirate boats. Smuggling, Trafficking, Piracy, Poaching and Pollution -------------- -------------- ¶5. (U) Adu told participants that the consequences of inadequate security in Nigeria,s maritime domain were not restricted to the shipping community. The absence of law enforcement on Nigeria's waters creates, he said, an environment in which smuggling in arms and drugs, trafficking in persons, oil theft, poaching of marine resources and uncontrolled pollution of the maritime environment can occur. Adu reminded his audience of an incident in which radioactive waste was dumped in the harbor of Koko near Sapele. (Note: No further details of this incident were provided and Post has no further information about it. End Note.) The President of NITOA said that foreign fishing trawlers operate without licenses and in violation of international environmental laws with impunity. Adu of NAMM compared the absence of adequate and coordinated law enforcement in Nigeria's waters to the situation off the Somali coast, pointing out that Somali was widely viewed as a "failed state." He asked what Nigeria's excuse was for having a maritime security situation that was nearly as bad, if not worse, than the situation off the coast of Somalia. Solutions: Registration, Control and Naval Assistance -------------- -------------- ¶6. (U) A NAMM representative recommended a couple of actions that could be taken to reduce criminality in Nigerian waters. He suggested that all vessels entering, departing or loading/off-loading in Nigerian ports should be "controlled." (Note: this was not further defined in the conference. End note.) NAMM recommended that a standard procedure for reporting piracy and armed robbery attacks and keeping statistics on such attacks should be established. Finally, NAMM suggested that if the Nigerian government is not capable of providing security in its maritime domain it should sign a Memorandum of Understanding with other maritime powers capable of maintaining naval patrols and enforcing international and national law in Nigerian waters. ¶7. (C) Comment: While Post can't verify all of NAMM's claims, there is a serious piracy problem in Nigerian waters and it has a direct and daily impact on U.S. and other companies operating in Nigeria as well as overall maritime security. It would be easy to simply lump the problem in with the broader unrest in the Niger Delta, but there is more to it than that. Criminals understand they can operate virtually unchallenged on Nigerian waters. There simply is LAGOS 00000240 003 OF 003 no rule of law on Nigerian waters, be they the remote creeks of the Niger Delta or the crowded anchorage off the busy port of Lagos. The complete lack of GON response to the alarming levels of violence against ships in Nigerian waters is a function of several things: inadequate hardware as the Nigerian Navy often complains about; the Nigerian Navy's incompetence and dismal maintenance practices; GON indifference to the problem; and the absence of political will to take rigorous measures to combat it. End Comment. ¶8. (U) This cable was cleared by Embassy Abuja. BLAIR