The Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG), Maritime Police command, Mr. Alkali Baba Usman has said that lack of logistics by the command has robbed it of the capacity to provide security for ships at berth.
It will be recalled that out of the total 45 attacks in ships globally, 22 of such attacks took place within the Nigerian territorial waters in May.
However, speaking during a working visit to the headquarters of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) in Lagos, Thursday, Usman added that the command lacked patrol boats needed to secure the vessels at berth until they finish discharging their consignment.
He further disclosed that because of altercation with the Nigerian Navy (NN) at sea, the police was incapacitated to provide arms guard to the ships whenever they berth.
On the alleged stopping of properly exited containers on the city highways by the police, the AIG reiterated that the police would continue to stop containers on the road as many issues including hacking, under declaration, forgery form the basis for the action.
Usman observed that 146 cases were presently under investigation under the command for offences bothering on factors bothering on hacking, under declaration, forgery among others adding that 3 officers and men of the command were arrested and detained over the weekend for illegal activities.
The Police Chief while admitting that there were bad eggs among the force, however said that it was obtainable in all sectors of the society.
Earlier in his welcome address, the President of NAGAFF, Chief Increase Uche relived the challenges posed on their members by the overlapping functions among government agencies in the port even as he noted that the agencies abused general duty powers by unauthorized police operatives within and outside the port.
According to him, “Aside from this, we have the issues of unchecked harassment and violation of the rights of our members by the various agencies of the government at ports, the non-enforcement of regulations, the resistance to change by port users, the high handedness of terminal operators and shipping companies, the deplorable state of the ports access roads and the widespread corruption in the system”.
He however commended the police boss for proactive action on resolving the rampant issuance of letters to shipping companies, terminal operators and other government agencies to block containers from being released.
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