The Nigerian Navy has asked for collaboration among West and Central African countries to reduce piracy. Rear Admiral Adeniyi Osinowo has written a paper entitled; “Combating the Menace of Piracy and other Maritime Crimes in Africa’’, which he presented at the Association of Africa Maritime Administrations (AAMA) Conference in Abuja. He said that between January 2016 and February 2017 there were 83 reported attacks on vessels in Nigerian waters, of which 47 were successful. Osinowo said that there should be inter-agency coordination at a national level and that sustainable database management on piracy should be introduced.
“Piracy begins and ends ashore. There should be preventive strategy based on identification of vessels and persons of interest. There should also be inter-agency coordination at the national level. Maritime Administrations (MARADs) have important role to play in information sharing”, he said.