A destroyed refinery By Favour Ifeoluwa & Akinola Ajibade The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited( NNPCL) says it has destroyed 134 illegal refineries in the last few weeks. Also, the company said 63 illegal pipeline connections were uncovered during the the weeks . The corporation, In a visual report, stated that at about 2 am on Sunday, a joint team of security agents discovered a large wooden boat illicitly loading stolen crude oil from Barge AGS01 within the OML 18 operating area, noted intelligence report a large wooden wooden boat was caught receiving crude oil from the barge. According to the state-owned oil firm, while the barge was towed away with a tugboat in custody, five speedboats used in towing the large wooden boat to the illegal loading site were also detained and the particulars of the tugboats and barge used for the operation were reportedly seized for further investigation. It further said that two large boats, which involve
NCC/ NIMASA partnership coming
By Akinola Ajibade
A regulatory framework to stimulate effienciency in the use of submarine cables for operators in the nation's telecommunication sector is in the offing courtesy of the plans by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to work together on the issue.
The framework would assist in providing guidelines for Submarine Cable and Pipeline Operators in Nigeria.
A submarine Cables are often times, thousands of miles in length, are used in transmitting huge amounts of data rapidly from one point to another for effective operation of telecom companies.
According to NIMASA's Assistant Director, Public Operations, Mr Edward Osagie, the officials of the two organisations have reached an agreement on during a a pre-audit meeting on submarine cable Osagie in a statement made available to the media, quoted the Director-General of NIMASA, Dr Bashir Jamoh, as saying that the agency was committed to ease of doing business while implementing International Conventions which Nigeria had ratified and domesticated.
Jamoh noted that with Nigeria now a destination for global communication players, the time had come to prevent unregulated underwater cable laying, which may become hazardous to shipping.
“It is worthy to note that marine cable laying has been ongoing for over two decades in Nigerian waters.
“Our focus is to ensure safety of navigation of shipping in Nigerian waters with all these underwater cables being laid.
“NIMASA is actually developing the guidelines to regulate submarine cable operators in line with the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, (UNCLOS).
“We do not just implement laws; we consult. Where the responsibility of an agency stops, that is where the responsibilities of another Agency starts,” Jamoh said.
He noted that collaboration was a key component of ease of doing business in the best interest of the country.
Jamoh said that NIMASA would work closely with the NCC to achieve this.
The statement also quoted the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, as saying that the stakeholders’ dialogue strategy adopted by NIMASA in developing the guidelines would ensure a win-win situation.
He enjoined NIMASA to include the Ministry of Justice in the development of the guidelines, a request granted immediately by Jamoh.
Danbatta was represented by the Director, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement, Efosa Idehen.
The statement quoted the Director-General of Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Mr Dasuki Arabi, as commending NIMASA and NCC for adopting effective Inter-Agency collaboration to avert a potential challenge for the country in the future.
Recall that It NIMASA notified submarine and cable operators in Nigeria of plans to implement regulatory guideline for submarine cables and pipelines in Nigeria, in line with the provisions of UNCLOS.Officials of the Federal Ministry of Environment and representatives of submarine cable operators in Nigeria were also at the meeting nan
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