NAN-HE-11
Stowaway
By Uchenna Eletuo
Lagos, March 3, 2018 (NAN) A port security expert, Mr Ikechukwu Uche and a maritime lawyer, Mr Emma-Nwagbara, have called on the Nigeria shippers Council (NSC) to embark on campaign to discourage stowaway.
They said as industry regulator, the council ought to widen its enlightenments to the larger public to dissuade persons from being involved in stowaway venture.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos, reports that the Nigerian Navy in January alerted Nigerians on recent increase of stowaways boarding merchant vessels.
Uche told NAN that like other social crimes that had taken their toll on the image of the country internationally, stowaway should be checked.
“It is a crime that has both economic and security underpinning capable of negatively affecting the country’s economy.
“Many of them are not aware of the dangers in such crime as some unscrupulous persons with fair knowledge of maritime laws recruits unsuspecting youths into the act,’’ Uche said.
Nwagbara said that the rate of stowaways in high sea had led to the rise of maritime security challenges in the nation’s territorial waters.
“It is within the purview of the council to relate with the general public in the language they can understand as regards inherent vices in the sector and their consequences,’’ he said.
According to him, Nigerians ought to be aware of the results of their acts both at individual and national levels.
“The increasing attempts by some desperate persons to board merchant vessels as stowaways are at variance with national interest,” he added. (NAN)
EUC/ESAN/GY
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Edited by Abiodun Esan/Grace Yussuf