The Nigeria Shipping Industry has achieved another milestone in its anti-piracy drive as the International Bargaining Forum (IBF) removes Nigeria from risk maritime nations, as announced by NIMASA on 24 February 2023¹. Nigeria and countries all over the world have been negatively impacted by different forms of maritime crimes. Piracy, which seems to be the most prominent of these maritime crimes, has occasioned the loss of lives of seafarers and significantly sabotaged international trade. While impact on human lives may be estimated, it is difficult to estimate with precision, the adverse impact of Piracy activities on the economy of the country.

In a move to curb piracy, and mitigate its negative impacts, Nigerian Government has introduced certain measures capable of ensuring safety on Nigerian waters. One of the measures is the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences Act (SPOMO Act or the Act), which was enacted and signed into law in 2019. The main objective of the SPOMO Act to prevent and suppress piracy, armed robbery and other unlawful acts against a ship, aircraft, and other maritime craft². The Act defines maritime offences and provides for the prosecution of such offences under it³. Another measure was the initiation of the Deep Blue project in the year 2020 by th Federal Ministry of Transportation and Federal Ministry of Defence, in collaboration with the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

The Deep Blue project was initiated with the main objective of securing Nigerian waters up to Gulf of Guinea, and the project was launched by President Muhammadu Buhari in June 2021 as a sign of continuous determination and efforts of Nigerian Government to secure the Nigerian waters, and give Nigerians more leverage to harness the resources accruing from the country’s maritime environment⁴. In addition to the established anti-piracy measures, Nigerian Government entered several partnerships with governments who share the same goal of protecting their maritime environments. According to NIMASA, major stakeholders in the international shipping community expressed their confidence and satisfaction in the measures put in place by Nigerian Government to curb piracy and armed robbery in the maritime space⁵.

The anti-piracy efforts of the Nigerian Government and the agencies charged with the duty of protecting our maritime space have indubitably delivered its expected results. In 2022, the International Maritime Bureau delisted Nigeria from its Piracy list⁶, as its annual report on Piracy and Armed Robbery stated that there were no piracy attacks reported in Nigeria in the year 2022. Delisting of Nigeria from the risk maritime nations is a remarkable achievement and can certainly be attributed to the continuous commitment of the Nigerian Government and the relevant agencies in ensuring the safety of lives and businesses in our maritime space.

1. Blog Post – “Piracy: Nigeria Removed from IBF Unsafe Water List” by Osagie Edward; Assistant Director, Public Relations, NIMASA
2. Section 1 of Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences Act, 2019
3. Sections 3, 4 & 5 of Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences Act, 2019
4. Blog Post – “President Buhari Launches Deep Blue Project in Lagos” by Philip Kyanet
5. Blog Post – “World Shipping Community Confident in Nigeria’s Antipiracy Fight” by Isichei Osamgbi; Head, Corporate Communications, NIMASA
6. The Guardian Nigeria, April 10th 2022