Non-Subscriber Extract
Nigerian Navy comes under fire for failure to prevent rise in piracy
By Jon Rosamond
11 January 2008
The director of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has criticised the Nigerian Navy over its failure to prevent a significant rise in the number of pirate attacks in Lagos and the Niger Delta region.
Globally, the number of reported robberies and hijackings against commercial shipping increased by 10 per cent in 2007. The level of violence used also went up, according to the IMB.
In its annual report, published on 9 January 2008, the IMB says that its Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur recorded a total of 263 attacks worldwide during the previous 12 months, compared with 239 in 2006.
The report states: "At the same time, pirates and robbers boarding vessels were better armed and more brazen in assaulting and injuring crew members, with a 35 per cent increase reported in the number of incidents involving guns." Sixty-four crew were injured or assaulted, compared with 17 in 2006.
Captain Pottengal Mukundan, the IMB's director, said the worsening global situation was "directly attributable" to the increase in piracy in Nigeria and Somalia, where there was a "lack of proper law enforcement".
In Nigeria, a total of 42 incidents were reported in 2007 - three and a half times more than the year before. Many attacks were staged by heavily armed groups with political grievances.