Transportation Minister Calls For Synergy To Tackle Insecurity In Gulf Of Guinea

Oru Leonard

The Hon. Minister of State for Transportation, Sen. Gbemisola Saraki has called on security agencies and other stakeholders to provide the needed impetus and synergy to tackle the rate of violent crimes in the Gulf Of Guinea.

The Minister who expressed her worries on the spate of insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea, made this disclosure when participants of the Executive Intelligence Management Course 13 of the National Institute for Security Studies, Lower Usman Dam, paid her a courtesy visit recently in Abuja.

She highlighted a three prong approach already adopted by the Ministry: to arrest and persecute offenders, resolve the root cause of the problem and then assure ship owners that the Gulf of Guinea is safe for trade.

She advocated the support of all agencies to make the approaches work, while pointing out that Nigeria is the only country in the region to have a legal framework to deal with piracy, she called on countries in the region and participants at the Global Maritime Security Conference organised by the Ministry and its Agencies in 2019 to implement decisions reached at the summit.

The Minister, who observed that hitherto, there has been no collaboration with the Institute, directed that relevant officers from Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Nigerian Ports Authority and non-pool staff in Maritime Departments in the Ministry be drafted to be trained in the Institute to provide the manpower needed to combat violent crimes at sea.

Earlier, the Commandant of the Institute, Mr. Adeboye Adeleke informed that the Institute which started in 2008 has the mandate to train Management Staff of Security Agencies on security issues.

Responding to questions by participants, on issues of sustainability of the achievements in the rail sector, the Permanent Secretary, Mr. S. Zakari, informed that outside the contract given to China Civil Engineering Construction Company, the Ministry insisted that China trains about 150 young people in China on railway engineering to man the railways after they deliver the project.

On the issue of tackling insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea, the Permanent Secretary, said equipment needed to secure the region has been acquired and the personnel to man them have been trained.