The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) in its reports, said that out of the 46 incidents recorded in Gulf of Guinea region so far, 31 of those incidents were logged from Nigerian territorial waters, indicating that Nigeria alone was responsible for 67.39 per cent of the total piracy incidents recorded in 2018.
It added that while incidence of crew kidnappings had reduced worldwide, all the 25 crew members that were kidnapped in the first half of the year from six incidents in the Gulf of Guinea were off the coast of Nigeria.
However, the Nigerian maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), in its protest, said that the  bureau had misrepresented Nigeria facts and figures.
The Director General of the agency, Dr. Pterside Dakuku, said that the bureau classified other forms of crimes as pirate attacks in the country.
According to him, piracy is different from other forms of maritime crimes.
He observed that even the slightest crimes in the creeks and habours of Nigeria were often reported as piracy by the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre.
Dakuku noted that the report was an indictment on the safety of Nigerian waterways with a huge potential to create a negative perception of the country in the global maritime arena.

Shippers’ Council

Worried by the spate of smuggling, concealment and under declaration in the industry, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) reintroduced the Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) it suspended in 2015 because of stiff opposition by stakeholders.
The council had protested that about 90 per cent of goods imported into the country were under-declared at the seaports
Credit:  Read full report at New Telegraph