Maritime
Two helicopters, 20 speedboats arrive Nigeria for maritime security
By Richards Adeniyi
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi recently said an Israeli company, HLSI Security Systems and Technologies Limited have imported two helicopters, 20 speed boats and other equipment to tackle insecurity on Nigerian waters.
Speaking on achievements made in the maritime sector in Buhari’s first term in office, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi during his valedictory press briefing said, “Maritime security; our water today is extremely bad. The Gulf of Guinea is the worst in the world but we are about to clean it up.
“We won a contract of $195 million approved by the president to ensure that we have maritime security. So, they bought equipment and they just arrived the seaport and we are clearing.
‘’They are bringing in two helicopters, 20 speedboats with flat bottom because of Niger Delta and communication equipment.
“All those have arrived Nigeria and we believe they will be fixed in the next one to two months.
“This will enable us see Nigerian waters from anywhere and also make us see those who do bunkering and those who kidnap people in the water. We will know whether they will be faster than the camera or not.
“The moment the camera picks you, then the Navy will respond. We are bringing in infrastructure that enables us see our waterways from beginning to end and to abort criminal activities.
“Since the equipment have arrived and we have already trained personnel, the moment they finish installing the equipment, then criminal activities on the waterways will be checked,” Amaechi said.
The Minister also said that the arrival of the equipment will help the Nigeria Customs Services, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the general public track revenue and vessels on the waters.
He also hinted the FEC recently approved the National Single Window which is aimed at reducing the hours used to clear goods at the ports.
He said, “The number of months we used to wait to clear our goods has reduced to days. At the second to the last cabinet meeting, the National Single Window was approved. The National Single Window makes it possible to clear goods in 48 hours. With the approval, goods will be cleared within 48 hours if there are no issues or offences committed by the owner of the goods.”
