The Nigerian Navy said the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has declared that the nation’s waterways were unsafe to do business in the past due to the habit of abandoning oil theft vessels along the waterways.
The Navy said such abandonment of vessels contributed to the high insurance premium on ships operating in Nigerian waters, adding that clearing the waters had cost so much money.
In a statement issued on Sunday by the Director of Naval Information, Commodore A.O Ayo-Vaughan, the Navy said a vessel identified as MV Cecelia was being tracked by the naval authorities for alleged oil theft.
“The vessel was arrested on 15 August 2023 with products suspected to be illegally refined AGO at Meco Jetty in Port Harcourt, Rivers State following an operation by the Naval Component of OPDS (Operation Delta Safe). A press interview was conducted immediately after the arrest, however, the owners of the vessel remained at large. Subsequently, the sample of the products onboard the vessel was taken for laboratory analysis and it was discovered to be illicit AGO. Pertinently, the owners of the vessel were at large and did not present themselves to witness the test in line with extant procedure,” Ayo-Vaughan said.
He said it had been the practice that in some cases where vessels involved in oil theft are arrested, the owners abscond leaving the Nigerian Navy to bear the cost of keeping and sustaining such vessels.
“This has cost the nation huge sums of money and has constituted serious national security problems,” he said.
“Most of the vessels either sink alongside the jetty or within the channel constituting serious navigational hazards. These abandoned vessels have been the major reason why the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in the past, declared the nation’s ports/waterways as the most unsafe ports in the region.
“This has been a contributing factor to the high insurance premium on ships operating in Nigerian waters with a negative impact on the nation’s economy. Suffice it to state that NIMASA, NPA and the NN have expended huge sums of money in the clearing of wrecks in the waterways that resulted from abandoned vessels engaged in oil theft.
“The public is to note that MV Cecelia has not been operational and has been alongside for about two years. At the time of the arrest, the vessel was laden with about 250,000 litres of illicit AGO. So far three suspects have been arrested and have made useful statements while the alleged owners remained at large,” it stated.
According to the statement, the vessel has no approval to serve as an AGO storage facility.
“This fact is clearly known to the Nigerian Navy and OPDS as all approved storage facilities are usually communicated to naval headquarters by relevant agencies for monitoring. It is important to note that the intelligence revealed that illegally refined products are received onboard MV Cecelia for storage.
“One of the suspects revealed that they usually bring illegally refined AGO in ‘Cotonou’ (large wooden) boats and Geepee tanks and offload into MV Cecelia pending when it will be sold to unsuspecting members of the public. It is unfortunate that this practice has been on without being detected until the recent re-invigorated intelligence-led operations by OPDS and the Nigerian Navy,” the statement further said.
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