Headlines

NIMASA assembles expert team on maritime security strategy to curtail piracy

Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh (middle); Director, Marine Environment Management (MEM), Mrs. Aishatu A Jidda (3rd right); International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Facilitator, Phillip Heyl (2ndright); Rear Admiral O.C. Medani Rtd. (3rd left); Head, International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS), of NIMASA, Mr. Isa Mudi (2ndleft) and other staff of NIMASA during the inauguration of an Expert Level Planning Team (ELPT) for the drafting of the National Maritime Security Strategy (NMSS) towards sustaining the Agency’s successes against piracy.

Eyewitness reporter

The Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh, has inaugurated the Expert Level Planning Team (ELPT) of the Agency to draft the National Maritime Security Strategy (NMSS) to sustain the Agency’s successes in the fight against piracy.

Jamoh also commended the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for its technical support to Nigeria by assigning facilitators to assist the country.

According to the DG, maritime security will always be of priority concern to the Agency, noting that it is the bedrock and guarantee of every meaningful shipping enterprise.

The NIMASA DG said the strategy would become the culmination of all the various efforts, initiatives, and partnerships the Agency started out under its “Triple S” of Maritime Security, Safety and Shipping Development upon his assumption of office in March 2020.

“There can be no doubt, to the fact that maritime security is the bedrock and guarantee of every meaningful shipping enterprise. From the crew to cargo to carrier to the coast and quayside, there must be security all the way for confidence to drive shipping economics.

“Maritime security has always been and will continue to remain a priority. You are all aware of the current successes achieved in ensuring maritime security within the nation’s maritime domain and the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) as a whole.

“Specifically, the GoG region is experiencing an unprecedented decline in piracy incidents over the past three decades.

“Only as recently as last week, the International Maritime Bureau (the IMB) finally confirmed all the progress we have been making and announcing for months the said Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea – has declined for real. This is a fact that we can all be proud of.

“Also, this is the product of concerted efforts of the Agency in collaboration with other relevant government bodies such as the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Air Force, Nigerian Police Force, Nigerian Army, the Department of State Security (DSS), and several other states and non-state actors and stakeholders having security responsibilities.

Jamoh pointed out that NIMASA is mindful of the dynamic nature of maritime security threats; hence the need to take deliberate steps to ensure the sustainability of its achievements, through the establishment of a coordinated, whole-of-government approach in dealing with issues of maritime security.

He stated that the Agency’s strategic responsibilities to protect ships, seafarers, shipload, merchandise, ports and all other assets in Nigeria’s maritime domain as mandated by the NIMASA Act, ISPS Code Implementation Regulations (2014) and, more recently, the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences (SPOMO) Act makes it pertinent for it to successfully drive the collaborative development of the NMSS.

“I am therefore hopeful that by the end of this programme, not only will you be trained as Maritime Security Professionals (MSPs), but you will also be equipped with the requisite skills to offer similar training on behalf of the Agency to individuals who intend to carry out specific maritime security functions.

“The Expert Learning Planning Team (ELPT) is to develop a blueprint of the National Maritime Security Strategy (NMSS). This would serve as the basis for your determination of the members of the cross-government Working Group (WG) that will execute subsequent steps of this drafting process.

Jamoh thanked the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for the technical assistance through Philip Heyl and Rear Admiral O.C Medani of the Nigerian Navy (Rtd) facilitating the sessions.

He added that the IMO’s unflinching assistance has enabled the Agency to develop a workable, multi-phase plan, which it is currently executing.

Headlines

Lagos princess congratulates Tinubu, Sanwo-Olu

… tasks them on development of maritime economy

The eyewitness reporter

The President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Olushola Sanwo-Olu have been tasked with paying attention to the maritime economy for its development for the overall benefit of Nigeria and her citizenry.

Giving the task with congratulatory messages, a Lagos princess, Princess Ronke Kosoko, noted that developing the maritime economy would instigate the economic development of the nation.

Princess Kosoko who is the CEO of Employment Clinic and Coordinator, Project One Million Jobs,

congratulated Asiwaju Tinubu and Governor Sanwo-Olu on their well-deserved victories at the polls.

She was confident that the Nigerian maritime economy will gain immensely from the Tinubu administration even as she enjoined the President-elect to focus on the industry.

Kosoko noted that skilled maritime personnel is aging and there is a need to transfer their wealth of experience to the younger generation who needs to be prepared to take over from the retiring generation.

She disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Transportation had approved the request for Project One Million Jobs to interface with agencies under the ministry for a seamless flow of talks and synergy that will positively impact and lead to a new frontier in the industry.

Ronke Kosoko unveiled her pet project, Maritime Conversion Programme (MCP), which she explained was designed to introduce Nigerian graduates to the maritime sector and improve career prospects.

Kosoko said that the MCP, which has gotten the backing of the government, would give support and connect not less than 5000 Nigerian graduates with the right employers in the industry who can engage them in non-technical aspects of shipping.

She noted that women will be given an adequate percentage under MCP, stating that the MCP is not creating jobs but providing a fertile ground for the transfer of knowledge from old Nigerians in the industry to young ones.

Headlines

Ekweremadu, wife may go to jail as London court finds them guilty of organ tafficking

Ike Ekweremadu; his wife, Beatrice;

The Eyewitness reporter with agency report

A former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu; his wife Beatrice; and their doctor, Obinna Obeta have been found guilty of organ trafficking in the first verdict of its kind under the Modern Slavery Act.

Ekweremadu, 60; his wife, Beatrice, 56; and Obeta, 51; were found guilty of facilitating the travel of a young man to Britain with a view to his exploitation after a six-week trial at the Old Bailey.

They allegedly criminally conspired to bring the 21-year-old Lagos street trader to London to exploit him for his kidney, the jury found, according to UK Guardian.

Ekweremadu and his wife were charged in the United Kingdom after they allegedly lured a young man from Nigeria to harvest his organ for their ailing daughter, Sonia.
The lawmaker was last year arrested and had been in the custody of UK authorities after they received complaints from the young man about their alleged plans to harvest his organ.

The prosecutor, Hugh Davies KC, told the court on Thursday the Ekweremadus and Obeta had treated the man and other potential donors as “disposable assets – spare parts for reward”.

He said they entered an “emotionally cold commercial transaction” with the man.

The behaviour of Ekweremadu, a successful lawyer and founder of an anti-poverty charity who helped draw up Nigeria’s laws against organ trafficking, showed “entitlement, dishonesty and hypocrisy”, Davies told the jury.

He said Ekweremadu, who owns several properties and had a staff of 80, “agreed to reward someone for a kidney for his daughter – somebody in circumstances of poverty and from whom he distanced himself and made no inquiries, and with whom, for his own political protection, he wanted no direct contact”.

Davies added, “What he agreed to do was not simply expedient in the clinical interests of his daughter, Sonia, it was exploitation, it was criminal.

“It is no defence to say he acted out of love for his daughter. Her clinical needs cannot come at the expense of the exploitation of somebody in poverty.”

Ekweremadu, who denied the charge, told the court he was the victim of a scam.

Obeta, who also denied the charge, claimed the man was not offered a reward for his kidney and was acting altruistically.

Beatrice denied any knowledge of the alleged conspiracy. Sonia did not give evidence.

The judge, Mr Justice Jeremy Johnson, will pass sentence at a later date.

Headlines

EFCC arraigns bank manager, two others for N55m fraud in Makurdi

Owolola Adebola

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC,) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, arraigned one Kichime Gomwalk, a branch manager of First City Monument Bank, (FCMB,) Michael Damkas Buayam of Tan Global Energy Limited, and Abbas Andrew Dayilim of Castlegate International Limited before Justice P. S. Gang of the Plateau State High Court Jos, on a five-count charge bordering on stealing, cheating and obtaining by false pretense to the tune of N55,000.000.00 (Fifty Five Million Naira) fraud.

Kichime Gomwalk, while serving as branch Manager, FCMB Plc, Murtala Mohammed Way Jos, in Plateau State is alleged to have forged COCIN GRATUITY CERTIFICATE OF PLEDGE/LETTER OF SET-OFF dated 30th DECEMBER, 2019, purportedly co-signed by Mrs. Monica Bitrus Tang and Rev (Dr.) Amos Musa Mohzo, Directors, which he used to secure an overdraft facility from FCMB Plc to the tune of N55, 000.000.00 (Fifty-Five Million Naira) with COCIN Gratuity account N0. 100GOMWALK379 domiciled with FCMB Plc

Count one of the charges reads, “That you, Kichime Gomwalk, Michael Damkas Buayam of Tan Global Energy Limited, and you Abbas Andrew Dayilim of Castlegate International Limited, sometime in December 2019 at Jos, in Plateau State within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court did conspire among yourselves to commit an unlawful act to with without Lawful authority engaged in the acquisition of N55,000.000.00 (Fifty Five Million Naira) overdraft credit facility from FCMB Plc and thereby committed an offense of conspiracy contrary to section 59 (1) of the Plateau State Penal Code Law, (20017) and punishable under Section 59 (2) of the same Law”.

Count two reads, “That you, Kichime Gomwalk, Michael Damkas Buayam of Tan Global Energy Limited, and you Abbas Andrew Dayilim of Castlegate International Limited, sometime in December 2019 in Plateau State within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court fraudulently used LETTER OF CONSENT to engage in the acquisition of N55,000.000.00 (Fifty Five Million Naira) overdraft credit facility from FCMB Plc knowing that at the time of acquisition of the said money, it was derived from the unlawful activity and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 18 (a) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment Act) 2004, and Punishable under section 18 (2) of the same Act”.

The defendants pleaded ‘not guilty’ when the charge was read to them.

The prosecution counsel, Uwaise Yusuf urged the court to remand the defendants and fix a date for trial.

The judge adjourned the case till May 18, 2023, and ordered the remand of the defendants at the Jos Correctional Center pending the hearing of their bail applications.