Deep Blue Project: The spirit of togetherness

Director-General, NIMASA, Bashir Jamoh The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) rolled out the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure, otherwise known as the Deep Blue Project, in February this year to tackle headlong maritime crimes like piracy and armed robbery that had for many years given the Gulf of Guinea, of which Nigeria is a part, the unenviable tag of the least secure and unsafe maritime environment in the world.

The evidence so far shows that there has been a significant decrease in the crime rate in the country’s waterways, a development that can correctly be attributed to the implementation of the Deep Blue Project – a project like no other in the annals of Nigeria’s maritime security endeavours.

Last week, we looked at the Memorandum of Understanding signed between NIMASA and the Navy in April 2017, for cooperation in various areas including promotion of maritime security and safety, prevention of marine pollution, search and rescue operation, anti-piracy, illegal ship-to-ship transfer, illegal fishing and illegal bunkering, as well as rapid response to distress alert.

For instance, while the Special Mission Aircraft (SMA) will be manned by Air Force pilots, the Army will be in charge of armoured tanks, with the Navy manning the Special Mission Vessels (SMV), fast-moving interceptors, Special Mission Helicopters (SMH); while also continuing in its role of manning the Maritime Guard Command (MGC), a centre that is domiciled in NIMASA headquarters for the harmonization of the training procedures and guidelines involving the agency and the Navy, among other functions.

For instance, the agency does not bear arms, which is a critical component of all that is needed to fight in an environment where the enemy is usually armed to the teeth with the most sophisticated weapons; an environment where the dynamics of the fight could be quite unpredictable and requiring of the deployment of the most modern technology, using specially trained personnel.

This is more so as the official launch of the project by President Muhammadu Buhari on June 10, 2021, has given impetus to the fight against all forms of crime in the country’s maritime environment.

But while we await completion of work on the organogram, its approval and becoming operational, the collaboration involving NIMASA and the country’s armed forces, notably the Navy and the Army, Airforce and intelligence services, particularly the Department of State Services (DSS), as well the Police, is worth commending..

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