Maritime security : PICOMSS acquires Hi-tech surveillance gadgets

Ahead of the Senate’s final word on the controversial Maritime Security Agency (MASECA) bill, the Presidential Implementation Committee on Maritime Security and Safety (PICOMSS) has commence moves to monitor the Nigerian marine environment, as it has acquired surveillance equipment for that purpose

The highly sensitive equipment which includes a Radar, Close Circuit Camera (CCC) and AIS are all mounted on a 50 meters mast; one of which has already being installed around the Bar Beach in Lagos.

The system has the capacity to work round- the- clock; courtesy of solar and wind powered devices.

Our investigations revealed that the radar can capture ships and other water crafts for as much as 99 nautical miles, while the AIS can capture all images from as far as about 75 nautical miles.

Vanguard gathered that the highly- sensitive camera can pick images from about 10 nautical miles in the day and about three nautical miles in the night.

There are four of such equipment currently being installed in other parts of the country.

The discovery coincided with an appeal from a maritime industry non-governmental organisation; the Maritime Industry Advocacy Initiative (MAIN) to the Federal government to ensure that Nigerian waters are more secured that they are at the moment.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Lagos on Monday that the group noted that resurgence of attacks on ship in Rivers and Bayelsa calls for a stronger measures to curb sea robbery. The statement was signed by a member of the group’s board of trustees, Mr Kayode Solaru.

“The seas between Onne and Bonny are still very volatile, where there was a recent case of attacks on a marine police boat leading to the death of two officers and injuries to many others.

About two weeks ago also, a Cameroon-bound ship was attacked around Nembe along the Calabar waters”, the group recalled, even as it called for the passage of the much-expected MASECA bill.

According to MAIN, “we are optimistic that by the time MASECA comes on stream, these attacks on ships and crew will effectively be addressed, this is apart from the enormous bourgeoning of crude oil thieves in the Niger Delta who continue to plunder the nation’s wealth, as a result of the obvious failure of some apparatuses of government”.

Meanwhile, the surveillance equipment is said to be in the process of being replicated in Escravos, Bonny, Brass and Calabar, for total and effective coverage of the nation’s coastline from Lagos as the hub.

A maritime security expert Mr Bidemi Akinoso who spoke Vanguard said that it is expected that with the type of surveillance equipment that PICOMSS is putting up in Lagos and the coastal areas, it is possible to effectively monitor and nip all illegal activities in the bud.

The expert, Mr Bidemi Akinoso, who also confirmed having some ideas about the work of some of the equipment which are currently on ground at the old NITEL building on Victoria Island stressed that “if PICOMSS is expected to have a situation room where all relevant agencies should meet as at when necessary to review any development as they come up, this will erase the usual practice where agencies have different account of issues when they happen”.