Barely four days after the Nigerian Navy Service issued a directive banning unregistered boats with 200 horsepower and above from plying the Nigerian waterways, the Nigerian Navy has arrested 26 speedboats fitted with 200 horsepower engines and docked at the Warri Naval Base in Delta State.
The arrest was made at various jetties and take off points in Warri, in renewed efforts to rid the waterway of the state and mainland of criminal tendencies associated with oil theft, illegal oil refining, sea piracy and other criminal activities in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
The arrest was made Sunday, April 24, 2016 as the Navy commenced enforcement of the ban on the use of 200 and above horsepower outboard engines in Delta waterways.
Displaying the boats before journalists and explaining the rationale for the base’s action, the base operations officer, Commander Shehu Tasiu, who spoke on behalf of the commander of the NNS Delta, Commodore Raimi Mohammed, said the action was necessary as a result of the observed rise in criminal activities in the waterways.
Tasiu said those who have been engaging in criminal activities in the waterways had always relied on the speed of the engines that had been prohibited to make their escape, adding that it could also be difficult to identify those with genuine and lawful reasons to use such engines.
According to him, “It would be recalled that sometime in January, particularly after the pipeline explosion incident of January 14 and 15 the ban on the use of high capacity boat engines was reiterated by the headquarters of the Joint Task Force and subsequently by both Bayelsa and Delta state governments.
“Let me also say that this ban has been in force since 2007/2008 when the Niger Delta crisis was on. The reason why this ban is being enforced is because these high capacity outboard engines are being used to perpetrate criminal acts.
“In 2007/2008, it was mainly about militancy, kidnapping and unnecessary killings and it was observed that when criminals strike, they use these high capacity engines to evade arrest.
“Recently the crimes in the Warri waterways have been crude oil theft, hijacking of vessels and other boats, especially market boats and other innocent civilians. We also have issues of pipelines vandalism and these criminals use these high speed boats when they carry out these crimes”, Tasiu explained.
But a human rights group, Foundation for Human Rights and Anti-corruption Crusade (FHRACC), in a statement issued by its National President, Alaowei Cleric, and National/Diaspora Coordinator, Jerry Otuaro, condemned the navy’s operation, describing it as unconstitutional and barbaric.
The group called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Delta state governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, to prevail on the navy to step back on the enforcement of the order restricting the use of high speed engines, noting that the navy’s actions might ignite another crisis in the creeks as people are now afraid to move freely.
