Seaports suffered 78 vessel attacks, others in H1 – NPA

Nigerian seaports witnessed 78 incidents including attacks on vessels, accidents, and assaults, among others in the first half of this year, the Nigerian Ports Authority has said.

It disclosed this in a document presented by a Principal Manager at the agency, Onyenakeya Bartholomew, during the second quarterly meeting of the Ports Consultative Council in Lagos on Wednesday.

The document, titled, ‘Re; Operational returns for 2nd quarterly meeting of the Nigerian Ports Consultative Council’, focused on the security division report of the agency from January 1 to June 30, 2024.

It outlined the 78 incidents recorded across all ports to include “seven accidents, four arrests, one assault, 13 cases of damage to NPA property, seven deaths, two cases of arms and ammunition, and five fire incidents.”

Others, according to the report include “11 protests, four attacks on vessels, three stowaways, five joint raiding operations, seven thefts, eight visits, and one instance of trespassing to NPA land or illegal entry.”

Providing details of the incidents, the authority stated that the Lagos Port Complex recorded the highest number of incidents with a total of 29 cases, including three accidents, three arrests, one assault, and three cases of damage to NPA property.

It outlined others to include “two cases of deaths, one case of arms and ammunition, one protest, one attack on vessels, two cases of stowaways, two joint raiding operations, two thefts, three visits, and one instance of trespassing to NPA land or illegal entry.”

The Tincan Island Port Complex reported a total of 21 incidents. The incidents include “three accidents, three cases of damage to NPA property, four cases of deaths, two fire incidents, two protests, three attacks on vessels, one stowaway, two joint raiding operations, and three visits.”

For the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal, the agency said it had minimal incidents, with only two recorded cases of arms and ammunition, as well as protests. Lekki Port recorded five incidents in total, including one fire incident, one protest, one joint raiding operation, one theft, and one visit.

According to the document, the Rivers Port also reported five incidents, as it recorded just one accident, protest, joint raiding operation, theft, and visit.

The Federal Lighter Terminal and Federal Ocean Terminal in Rivers State reported fewer incidents, with FLT recording two incidents consisting of one accident and one protest while the FOT recorded two incidents comprising one death and one fire incident.

Delta Ports had seven incidents, including one accident, one case of damage to NPA property, one fire incident, two protests, one attack on vessels, and one visit.

“Calabar Port reported five incidents, including one accident, one case of damage to NPA property, two protests, and one visit,” the agency stated in its document.

The Nigerian Ports Consultative Council, composed of various stakeholders in the maritime sector, has over the years grown to become an invaluable partner to the Nigerian Ports Authority.

The quarterly meetings have proven to be veritable platforms for stakeholder engagements aimed at proffering solutions to the challenges impeding the Nigerian ports from becoming the leading ports in Africa.