NSCDC Acquires Gunboats to Fight Piracy, Oil Theft in Niger Delta

NSCDC Acquires Gunboats to Fight Piracy, Oil Theft in Niger Delta

The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has acquired gunboats for use in Niger Delta waters where economic crimes like piracy and oil pipeline vandalism are threatening the national economy.

The commandant general of the corps, Dr. Ahmed Audi, disclosed this at the First 2022 Commandants-General Conference held at the NSCDC headquarters in Abuja, where he reiterated the corps’ commitment towards ending insecurity in Nigeria.

Crude oil theft, especially in the Bonny Terminal Network, Forcados Terminal Network and Brass Terminal Network is responsible for crude oil loss of about 91 per cent in Nigeria. Nigeria lost $3.2 billion in crude oil theft between January 2021 and February 2022, according to government figures.

A report from the UNODC says that oil workers in the Gulf of Guinea face unparalleled threats of piracy and robbery at sea. In 2020, 27 of the world’s 28 recorded kidnapping at sea incidents occurred in the Gulf of Guinea. The UN agency called the region “the world’s piracy hotspot.”

NSCDC Acquires Gunboats to Fight Piracy, Oil Theft in Niger Delta

He lamented that an amalgamation of all the security forces totalling about two million is insufficient to serve a population of 200 million, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari had given authorisation for the NSCDC to hire more personnel to shove up the number of its forces.

“There is some information that we are not supposed to disclose on screen but the fact remains that we have received funds from the government to purchase security equipment that will help us discharge our functions very effectively,” he said.

On the terrorist attacks on the Abuja-Kaduna railway line, he said; “We are not supposed to divulge our strategy but we have taken decisive measures on how to work on this crisis. We have met and discussed other security agencies on how to prevent this from happening again.”