Managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello-Koko, has given an insight into how oil thieves move without being detected, saying they usually turn off the automatic identification system (AIS) of the vessels.
The AIS is an automatic tracking system that uses transceivers on ships and is used by vessel traffic services.
He made the disclosure at a press briefing at the State House in Abuja.
“This is what is needed in terms of transmission for you to even know when the vessel comes in and the location they to go to.
“They come in legally but then they go by the left-hand side to commit illegal activities after switching off their AIS. We are going ahead to deploy the vessel traffic service (VTS) and to also have information in terms of vessel movement.”
The managing director also decried the theft of buoys on shipping routes, noting that each of the buoys which serve as navigational route signs costs between N12 million and N20 million, whereas no fewer than 25 of these maritime safety equipment have been stolen from Nigerians waters this year alone.
Bello-Koko said the stolen buoys are often turned to scrap, with the perpetrators vandalising the sensors.
He further noted that it wasn’t just about the cost of the buoys but the cost of installing and deploying them on waters, adding that the absence of the buoys puts ships at risk of running aground.
Bello-Koko said as a result of the anxiety, many foreign ships’ captains choose to avoid certain areas of Nigerian waterways.
He said to checkmate the activities of the vandals, the management had been interacting with the locals and their leaders in communities where the theft occurs.
“Some communities have called us a couple of times to tell us that there is a buoy that has gone adrift.
“We believe probably the communities do not even know the individuals that are involved in these activities. So we are monitoring the buoys. And that is how we got to know how many are stolen any day it is stolen,” he said.
