President Goodluck
Jonathan has stated his administration's determination to totally eradicate the
incident of crude oil theft and illegal bunkering off the nation's borders
The President who made the commitment on Monday, at State House, Abuja said his government was determined to protect the nation's natural resources and ensure their sustainable use for the benefit of present and future generations.
A myriad of problems beset Nigeria's Maritime sector including poaching, piracy, pipeline vandalism, coastal insecurity, crude oil theft, illegal bunkering, non-payment of statutory levies and charges, illegal entry of ships into the country's territorial waters, illegal importation of arms and hard drugs, among other sundry crimes.
Tackling these challenges are a priority to the Jonathan administration on light of the fact that the maritime sector is a critical component in the economic development of a modern state facilitating approximately 90 percent of world trade
Government, President Jonathan says is however determined to reverse this situation, with the Maritime Operations Coordinating Committee already working to address all illegalities in the maritime domain
The President however feels more needs to be done and is hopeful that the workshop will provide a platform to fashion out measures especially aimed at totally eliminating crude oil theft
He believes that the amnesty programme. For ex-militants has resulted in improved security along the coasts, in offshore oil infrastructure, capacity development, and job creation while recently simplified ports procedures and an integrated port security system in all the ports would further help
Stakeholders are divided about the existing capacity of security agencies to tackle Maritime crimes
While some like the Navy are asking for government to invest in more state of the art equipment, others are confident that with the equipment available, oil bunkering and piracy can be halted in 30 days
This workshop is expected to come up with targets with time lines that would not only arrest the challenges identified but would also harness the huge potentials in the maritime sector thereby bringing about a turn around where losses in the sector will be converted to net gains.
The President who made the commitment on Monday, at State House, Abuja said his government was determined to protect the nation's natural resources and ensure their sustainable use for the benefit of present and future generations.
A myriad of problems beset Nigeria's Maritime sector including poaching, piracy, pipeline vandalism, coastal insecurity, crude oil theft, illegal bunkering, non-payment of statutory levies and charges, illegal entry of ships into the country's territorial waters, illegal importation of arms and hard drugs, among other sundry crimes.
Tackling these challenges are a priority to the Jonathan administration on light of the fact that the maritime sector is a critical component in the economic development of a modern state facilitating approximately 90 percent of world trade
Government, President Jonathan says is however determined to reverse this situation, with the Maritime Operations Coordinating Committee already working to address all illegalities in the maritime domain
The President however feels more needs to be done and is hopeful that the workshop will provide a platform to fashion out measures especially aimed at totally eliminating crude oil theft
He believes that the amnesty programme. For ex-militants has resulted in improved security along the coasts, in offshore oil infrastructure, capacity development, and job creation while recently simplified ports procedures and an integrated port security system in all the ports would further help
Stakeholders are divided about the existing capacity of security agencies to tackle Maritime crimes
While some like the Navy are asking for government to invest in more state of the art equipment, others are confident that with the equipment available, oil bunkering and piracy can be halted in 30 days
This workshop is expected to come up with targets with time lines that would not only arrest the challenges identified but would also harness the huge potentials in the maritime sector thereby bringing about a turn around where losses in the sector will be converted to net gains.
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