Abuja, Nigeria (CU)_ According to Dr. Bashir Jamoh, the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the agency is attempting to eliminate War Risk Insurance on inbound Nigerian vessels. Jamoh noted that in the second quarter, Nigeria did not register any incidents of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG). He also stated that the agency would work on raising awareness while also looking for the backing of the international community for a reassessment of the high freight rate caused by the war risk insurance.
Jamoh spoke about war risk insurance. He said, “It may interest you to know that by the end of this quarter, which is the end of June, we would have recorded another milestone as we are yet to record a single attack or incident of maritime insecurity on our waters. Therefore, we will keep advocating for the total removal of War Risk Insurance by the international community, so that Nigerians can benefit from that”.
In the meantime, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has instructed coastal governments to consider the issue of piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) extremely serious in order to ensure vessel safety. The UN agency stated in a new resolution on maritime security in the GoG that after a decade, it has determined to resume its focus on the issue of piracy in the region. According to the UNSC, the coastal states of GoG are primarily responsible for combating piracy and armed robbery in the region.
The UN Security Council also asked the member nations to make piracy and armed robbery at sea as criminal offenses under domestic law. According to Harold Agyeman, Ghana’s ambassador to the United Nations, piracy is one of the African continent’s greatest security issues. He stated that piracy exacerbates the region’s multiple problems, which include an increase in terrorism, the resurgence of coup d’états, and the aggravating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.
