According to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), oil thieves typically disable the automated identification system (AIS) of vessels in order to avoid being caught.
Vessel traffic services use the AIS, an automatic tracking system that makes use of transceivers on ships.
According to Mohammed Bello-Koko, managing director of the NPA, those engaging in unlawful activity in Nigerian waterways frequently disable the AIS.
At a news conference held yesterday at the state house in Abuja, the NPA MD said.
In reference to the vessel that was recently apprehended near the Escravos waterway carrying stolen crude, he said: “The intelligent persons bringing in vessels to steal crude, one of the things they do is they shut down the automatic identification systems, AIS.
As ex-depot prices, indebtedness, and logistics scarcity rise, gasoline prices are approaching N200 per litre.
“This is the transmission that is required for you to even know when the vessel arrives and where they are going.
“They enter lawfully, but after turning off their AIS, they proceed via the left to engage in unlawful activity. In addition to having information about vessel movement, we are moving forward with the deployment of the vessel traffic service, or VTS.
Bello-Koko continued by expressing concern over buoy theft along maritime lanes.
According to him, 25 of these pieces of marine safety equipment had been taken from Nigerian waters this year alone. Each buoy that is used as a nautical route marker costs between N12 million and N20 million.
In addition to the buoys’ purchase price, installing and deploying them on the water is also expensive.
According to Bello-Koko, ships are at risk of running aground without the buoys.
He claimed that many international ship captains steer clear of specific Nigerian rivers due to their anxiety.
The NPA boss claimed that the management has been talking with the locals and their leaders in the communities where the theft happens in order to quell the vandals’ activities.
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Bello-Koko claimed that the sensors are frequently vandalized and the stolen buoys are frequently recycled into scrap.
In certain cases, he continued, “the buoys were naturally dragged away by nature, they fell adrift, and they ended up on the coasts of some settlements.” He added that this was done to be fair to the communities.
The head of the NPA continued, “We’ve been phoned a few times by towns to let us know that a buoy has drifted off.”
“We think it’s likely that the people engaging in these actions aren’t even known in the areas. So, we keep an eye on the buoys. And that is how we learned how many items are taken every day,” he said.
The captains will automatically notice when they can’t find the beacons on the buoys suggesting that something is missing and they usually report it because they are also maneuvering vessels through the water channels.
He also bemoaned the fact that constant theft of navigational aids like buoys had made safety concerns worse and discouraged international ships from using Nigeria’s eastern maritime route.
Calabar, Port Harcourt, Onne, and Warri are significant ports along the Eastern waterways.
The Onne Port, which is thriving with import and export activity, was likewise described by the NPA as the port with the quickest growth.
In addition to having set aside $1.3 billion for the Lekki Deep Ports, the authority’s management said that it produced N172 billion in the first half of 2022.
Approximately ten export processing stations, where exporters may package and mark containers before they are transferred to the ports, have been licensed, Koko also informed journalists.
He clarified that in addition to the buoys’ purchase price, installing and deploying them on the ocean was also expensive.
Koko bemoaned that the lack of these buoys increased the possibility of ships running aground; as a result, many foreign ship captains choose to avoid certain areas of Nigerian waterways, which has an impact on government revenue at the affected ports.
The NPA boss stated that the organization had been interacting with the people and their leaders in the areas and villages where the theft happened, explaining to them how their local economy was also adversely affected by the crimes, as part of attempts to stop the practice.
