- West Africa becoming a haven for illicit drugs, stowaways – MASPAN
The Maritime Security Providers Association of Nigeria (MASPAN) has lamented the huge losses estimated to be in millions of dollars arising from ship detention amid prolonged investigation during cases of drug trafficking and stowaways.
MASPAN also underlined the need for countries without adequate legal framework to deal with the issue in a bid to curb the menace as well as the fiscal losses and seafarers trauma during such cases.
The Chairman, MASPAN/ Alumni of Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron (AMANO) Planning Committee, Mr. Emmanuel Maiguwa revealed this during a press conference to highlight the goals of the upcoming summit scheduled to hold on Thursday, August 22nd, 2024.
According to Maiguwa, a ship can be detained for several weeks or months during investigations to determine the source and suspects in a case of illicit drug discovery in the ship when it calls at a port.
Similarly, investigating the country of origin of stowaways discovered in a ship could be herculean, requiring the detention of an affected vessel for several weeks and leading to huge losses in time and money for the shipowners and the shippers.
These losses incurred by shipowners are shared or passed wholly to the Importers who are users of the shipping services.
MASPAN opined that this could be one of the reasons importers in West African countries, including Nigeria continue to pay billions of dollars annually as war risk insurance premiums even when the countries are peaceful and with no incidents of piracy recorded in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) in the last two years.
He also explained that seafarers are not willing to work in countries without legal clarity as to how to deal with drug and stowaway discoveries in a ship as complications from these cases could mean harsh realities for them.
It is in the light of the foregoing that MASPAN and AMANO are bringing shipping industry stakeholders and relevant drug regulatory agencies together to brainstorm on Nigeria’s capacity to handle drug trafficking and stowaway investigations within the shortest possible time-frame.
Maiguwa’s words: “If we have a scenerio where drugs have been discovered in a ship, the regulatory agency would have to detain the ship for investigations. That process will take a very long time and during that process, the ship will have to cover the operational cost and other admistrative costs. So, ships will always be afraid to do business in countries where they are likely to be detained for too long when this happens.
“This is what we want to bring to the knowledge of the industry and find a solution that allows the country to handle these issues within a short time. We are working with the incidents provided by countries where this type of matters are handled and cleared within 24 hours.”
Expressing concerns over such incidents, Maiguwa, who is also the Chief Executive Officer, Bricks Limited, a maritime security firm, disclosed that ships have been detained for several months while their crew were placed on trial and forced to remain without seeing their families for several years in cases of drug smuggling.
“On the part of Human Trafficking, cases of stowaways, especially in Lagos ports, have continued to cause delays to vessels when they are found before vessel departure. Cases, where discoveries were not made before departure, have continued to burden shipowners because of the very complex administrative protocols involved in handling stowaways on ships.
“Having considered the disruption, these activities can pose to shipping operations, increased cost, the trauma it could have on seafarers, and how counterproductive it could be to a maritime country like Nigeria that is struggling to realize the potential of her “blue economy”, we have come together to bring stakeholders to discuss these issues with a goal to arrive at a solution that serves the industry.
“The goal is to align with critical agencies in making sure that drug and human smuggling and trafficking in the maritime domain are reduced, if not eradicated, with perpetrators penalized in a way innocent parties are not made to pay the price, and the industry is not deprived of its growth potentials.”
At the end of this conference, we hope that stakeholders will arrive at workable solutions and mandate a working group to ensure the actualization of the resolutions reached.
