Dele Ezeoba, has urged members of the
Nigerian Trawlers Owners Association not
to pay ransom to pirates and kidnappers,
who attack their trawlers.
According to him, the country has a
responsibility to adopt the measures to
discourage the crime.Paying of ransom to the
kidnappers, Ezeoba said, would perpetuate the
vice in the country.
The Navy Chief spoke while receiving the
National Executive of the Nigerian Trawlers
Owners Association led by its President, Mr.
Joseph Overo, in Abuja on Tuesday.
He said, "The challenges you have highlighted
are common knowledge to all of us. It happens
unfortunately within our maritime space, not
because we want it, but because in our society,
we have people who take pride in committing
this crime.
"When you pay this ransom, you have opened a
floodgate for the vice to continue. It then
becomes business and a means of livelihood for
the abductors.
"I understand the peculiar circumstances, under
which this things happen; I know that in the past
people have been taken hostage, some were so
unfortunate to have been killed, but please it is
important that we should as much as possible
try not to encourage these things to continue to
happen by quickly responding to the kidnappers'
requests."
Pledging to support NITOA, Ezeoba said the
Navy would assist the association if its members
could provide relevant intelligence reports to the
service.
Overo, who frowned on the frequency of attacks
on their trawlers by pirates and kidnappers, said
the vice was fast killing the fishing industry in
the country.
He, therefore, appealed to the Navy for
intervention.
The association, which he said had 250 vessels
10 years ago, currently has only 122 vessels
following the frequent attacks on its members.
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