Millions of United States of America (USA) dollars is being lost to complicated drug trafficking and stowaway investigations in countries without adequate legal framework to deal with such cases in a timely manner, the Chairman, Maritime Security Providers Association of Nigeria (MASPAN) and the Alumni of Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron (AMANO) Planning Committee, Mr. Emmanuel Maiguwa has said.
The AMANO/MASPAN Planning Committee Chairman who revealed this during a press conference at the secretariat of Maritime Reporter’s Association of Nigeria (MARAN) recently stated that a ship can be detained for several weeks or months while investigation to determine the source and suspects in a case of drug discovery in the ship when it calls at a port.
According to him, investigating the country of origin of stowaways discovered in a ship could be herculean, requiring the detention of an affected vessel for several weeks and leading to huge losses in time and money. These losses incurred by ship owners are shared or passed wholly to the importers.
He argued that this was part of the reasons importers in West African countries, including Nigeria continue to pay billions of dollars annually as war risk charges even when the countries are peaceful and with no incidents of piracy recorded in the Gulf of Guinea in the last two years.
He explained that seafarers are not willing to work in countries without legal clarity as to how to deal with drug and stowaway discoveries in a ship as complications from these cases could mean harsh realities for them.
According to Maiguwa, it is in the light of these challenges that MASPAN and AMANO are bringing shipping industry stakeholders and relevant drug regulatory agencies together to brainstorm on Nigeria’s capacity to handle drug trafficking and stowaway investigations within the shortest possible time-frame.
His words: “If we have a scenario where drugs have been discovered in a ship, the regulatory agency would have to detain the ship for investigations. That process will take a very long time and during that process, a ship will have to foot the cost and other administrative costs. So ships will always be afraid to do business in countries where they are likely to be detained for too long when this happens.
“This is what we want to bring to the knowledge of the industry and find a solution that allows the country to handle these issues within a short time. We are working with the incidents provided by countries where this type of matters are handled and cleared with 24 hours.”
He revealed that the maritime summit on drug smuggling and human trafficking by ship will be chaired by the Honourable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola who has been mandated to chart the course for the new ministry by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He enjoined interested maritime stakeholders to contact the summit’s planning committee to register for the event which is scheduled to hold at Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos on August 22, 2024.
Maiguwa who is Chief Executive Officer, Bricks Limited, a maritime security firm, disclosed that ships have been detained for several months while their crew were placed on trial and forced to remain without seeing their families for several years in cases of drug smuggling.
“On the part of human trafficking, cases of stowaways, especially in Lagos ports, have continued to cause delays to vessels when they are found before vessel departure. Cases where discoveries were not made before departure, have continued to burden ship owners because of the very complex administrative protocols involved in handling stowaways on ships.
“Having considered the disruption, these activities can pose to shipping operations, increased cost, the trauma it could have on seafarers, and how counterproductive it could be to a maritime country like Nigeria that is struggling to realize the potential of her blue economy, we have come together to bring stakeholders to discuss these issues with a goal to arrive at a solution that serves the industry.
“The goal is to align with critical agencies in making sure that drug and human smuggling and trafficking in the maritime domain are reduced, if not eradicated, with perpetrators penalized in a way innocent parties are not made to pay the price, and the industry is not deprived of its growth potentials”, he added.
He expressed hope that at the end of this conference, stakeholders will arrive at workable solutions and mandate a working group to ensure the actualization of the resolutions reached.
