Stowaways said to be using Nigeria Island Port as potential source

Mr Issac Kofi Adu, the Deputy Port Security Manager, Tema, said intelligence gathered has revealed that the Island Port of Tican in Lagos, Nigeria, is a potential source for stowaways. 

The Tema Port had, therefore, initiated collaborations with the Nigerian authorities on the issue, he said, giving the assurance that the collaboration would be continuously pursued. 

Mr Adu said this during an exchange visit by the INTERPOL Maritime Security Unit under Project AGWE. 

The project involves a mission to enhance cooperation between Ghanaian and Nigerian law enforcement and to discuss ongoing security-related cases of mutual interest. 

Mr Adu called for the tightening of mitigating measures to check the canker of stowaway that had begun to emerge again in the West African sub-region. 

According to the Deputy Port Security Manager, although the Port of Tema continued to record zero stowaway embarkations, the port had become the destination of disembarkations of stowaways from elsewhere, and if care was not taken, it may become a trend. 

Mr Olude Azeez Ademola, a Criminal Intelligence Officer with the Maritime Security Unit of INTERPOL, said his office was pleased with the feedback and would work with both the Ghanaian and Nigerian maritime security and law enforcement agencies to activate existing tools to help curb the menace. 

“This is not a common occurrence in the region. We have mentioned some of the INTERPOL services that we can use to contain this, which include the issuing of pop-up notices where the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority can exchange the information based on their experience with their counterparts in Nigeria.’’ 

“They can also use some of our channels of communication like exchange visits to follow up on cases. We have the platform in which they can use to exchange their ideas against this trend,” he said. 

The INTERPOL Maritime Security Unit also paid visits to the Narcotics Control Division, Eastern Naval Command, Marine Police, and the CID headquarters in Accra. 

Source: GNA