Navy: Facing the challenge of oil theft

Mrs. MfonEkong Usoro, a maritime lawyer in the University of Calabar, said piracy and armed robbery at sea constitute a great threat to merchant and fishing vessels in Nigerian waters. “Nigeria’s oil facilities have also been targeted by pirates and robbers,” she said. The petroleum ministry said government is losing about $7 billion annually to […]

Mrs. MfonEkong Usoro, a maritime lawyer in the University of Calabar, said piracy and armed robbery at sea constitute a great threat to merchant and fishing vessels in Nigerian waters. “Nigeria’s oil facilities have also been targeted by pirates and robbers,” she said. The petroleum ministry said government is losing about $7 billion annually to crude oil theft in Nigeria. Oil production in Nigeria dropped by about 20 per cent in 2009, as a result of piracy, armed robbery and other attacks. According to the Nigerian Maritime Safety and Administration Agency (NIMASA) report, between February 2010 and February 2011, over 102 armed robbery attacks and other related incidents with 80 people killed were recorded in Nigeria’s maritime domain. The report said the situation resulted in Nigeria losing aboutN443 million annually. It was estimated that Nigeria loses over $1.8 billion annually due to maritime related crime.

Mrs. Usoro said there was the need to support the security forces, particularly the navy to protect oil installations that are vulnerable. There are several major oil installations in Nigeria which are not adequately protected. These include Agbami, Bonga, Amena-Kpono, Engina and Usan. While the total current annual earnings from these installations is 330,325,000 barrels at $65 per barrel, the yearly economic value is $21,471,125.00. The existence of these enormous economic resources that are left unprotected in the maritime environment further underscores the need for adequate maritime defence toward national unity.

But the Nigerian Navy, the major agency with the constitutional powers to safeguard the maritime environment lacks adequate funding and support to address Nigeria’s emerging myriad maritime crimes. The Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim said the lack of capability of the navy to tackle challenges was as a result of neglect and until government placed priority on strengthening the navy maritime sector, it won’t be safe and sound. “The Nigerian Navy is today on a steep operational decline due to numerous challenges ranging from aged fleet, degraded systems due to age, to obsolete and decayed support infrastructure,” he said.

Also, the Senate President David Mark said the navy used to be effective but its control on maritime defence began shrinking during the military rules when sanctions were imposed on the country, making it difficult for the navy to obtain spare parts for its fleet and acquire new ones. “Now, the navy can best be described as the shadow of its glorious past,”  mark also said. He said the national assembly will step up effort to support the navy.

Money budgeted for maritime safety hasn’t been sufficient and the defence ministry also wasn’t wholly supported to supervise the navy.  This lack of adequate funds and monitoring has been the main problem affecting the performance of navies in West Africa. Between 2006 and 2011, it was estimated that an average sum of N11.00 trillion was generated annually from Nigeria’s maritime environment but not much was invested in safety to commensurate what was generated. The annual budget of the navy in 2011 was N25.29 billion ($0.16 billion) out of which 20.76 per cent was not released.

The Minister of Defence Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed said that in 2011 the sum of N1, 267, 726.41 was budgeted for the ministry out of which only N840, 211, 808. 78 were released, translating to about 66.28 per cent.  He said increase in patrol, by the navy has reduced oil theft to 2 million barrels in 2011 from over 9 million barrels in 2010. “However, with additional funding, the ministry will acquire more surveillance vessels and gadgets to stop the oil theft and pipeline vandalism,” the minister said.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) in conjunction with the Maritime Safety Committee has approved interim measures for private shipping lines to hire private security personnel to provide safe passage for routes considered to be high risk areas due to increase in sea crime. The Minister of State for Defence, Erelu Olusola Obada said at a meeting with Navy and other security agencies in Abuja that following the surge in crime at the sea which hampered shipping operations especially, within the coast of Somalia, Gulf of Aden and a great expanse of the Indian Ocean, the ministry “will articulate clearly defined procedures and guidelines for compliance with the IMO regulation in accordance with extant laws and regulation.” “Arming merchant ships may not be an end to the threats; rather the navies need to be adequately supported to tackle the emerging challenges,” she said.

The Chief of Policy and Plans of the Nigerian Navy Rear Admiral James Oladimeji said most countries in the Gulf of Guinea are not strong, that is why the US and other countries are conducting joint operations to improve the capacities of these countries.  One of the joint operations was the recently concluded Exercise Obangame Express 2012 which was an at-sea maritime exercise designed to improve cooperation among participating nations in order to increase maritime safety and security in the Gulf of Guinea. The event, which involved naval ships from Belgium, Benin, Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria (host), Republic of Congo, Sao Tome and Principe, Spain, Togo and the US, is an annual maritime interdiction exercise. Another joint exercise is being conducted between Nigeria and Benin Republic. Yet, such joint exercises are just provisional; the most viable option is for the countries in the Gulf to strengthen their individual navies to be at alert.

Nigeria’s economic prosperity depends on maritime resources in several ways and continued economic growth requires that maritime transport be unhindered throughout Nigerian inland waterways and the regional network of sea lanes that the vessels sail through. Nigeria has six major ports complex; Lagos port complex, Tin Can Island port complex, Rivers port complex, Delta port complex, Onne port complex and Calabar port complex as well as several crude oil terminals. Cargo throughput at Nigerian ports (both inward and outward cargo) for 2010 totaled 74,910,284 tones. Total figure for crude oil shipped from all crude oil terminals in 2008 amounted 99,674,252 tones. Natural gas shipped in 2010 was 19,369,047 tones. 4,962 vessels with total Grt of 108,621872 entered all Nigerian ports and crude oil terminals in 2010. About 98 per cent of Nigeria’s international trade is seaborne. Statistics from the office of the Nigerian Ship Registry indicate that as of May this year, Nigeria has 1,919 flagged vessels with total gross tonnage of 2,934,149.71Grt. Thus, for the Nigerian economy to prosper, martime defence has to be intensified.