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RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
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RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
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RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
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RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RHMFISS/COMUSNAVEUR NAPLES IT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 000044 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2019 
TAGS: PGOV EWWT KCRM MCAP NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIAN MARITIME ADMINISTRATION PUSHES SECURITY 
INITIATIVES 
 
REF: A. 09 LAGOS 370 
     ¶B. 09 LAGOS 445 
     ¶C. 08 LAGOS 463 
 
Classified By: Consul General Donna Blair, Reasons 1.4 (B,D) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1.  (C)  Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency 
(NIMASA) Director General Temisanren Omatseye used a tour of 
NIMASA's training and operations center in Kirikiri, Lagos on 
December 22 to highlight current capacity, shortfalls, budget 
proposals, and strategic plans to the Ambassador and Pol/Econ 
Officer (notetaker).  NIMASA has taken the first steps toward 
establishing safety and security in Nigerian waters, but it 
requires considerable assistance in further capacity 
building.  NIMASA is also engaging the GON with respect to 
training ex-militants in the context of the post-amnesty 
program.  END SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------------------- 
ADDRESSING SHORTFALLS IN CAPACITY 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (C) Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency 
(NIMASA) Director General Temisanren Omatseye gave the 
Ambassador and Pol/EconOff (notetaker) a tour of NIMASA's 
training and operations center at Kirikiri, Lagos on December 
22 including a brief meeting with the NIMASA board of 
directors. Omatseye highlighted both the improvements made in 
NIMASA's capacities and the existing shortfalls.  NIMASA is 
currently capable of receiving and recording any distress 
signals from vessels operating along the West African coast, 
but has no capacity to respond.  NIMASA also has a Regional 
Maritime Awareness Capability (RMAC) repeater station which 
provides the capacity to see and identify ships up to 30 
nautical miles off-shore, but wants to be able to monitor 
ship movements 200 nautical miles off shore.  NIMASA 
possesses one search and rescue helicopter but has no 
capacity to do aerial surveillance.  NIMASA maintains has a 
small twenty-four-hour health unit that can provide first aid 
and do triage, but not respond to major emergencies or do 
surgery.  There is a helipad on the facilities, but the jetty 
and maintenance workshops are still under construction. 
 
¶3.  (C) NIMASA has classroom facilities to train classes up 
to 40 people at a time which are currently under-utilized; 
Omatseye wishes to see experts from around the world provide 
training on a weekly basis, adding that it was much cheaper 
and more effective to bring instructors in than send students 
abroad.  There are serious training gaps particularly with 
respect to law enforcement capabilities.  NIMASA board 
members asked to be allowed to submit to the U.S. Africa 
Partnership Station specific requests that would enable 
training programs to be customized to meet NIMASA's most 
pressing needs.  Altogether, NIMASA is short roughly 60 
staff, and an ongoing human resources audit will provide more 
precise data on needs. 
 
¶4.  (C) Omatseye's proposed budget for 2010 totaling 46 
billion naira (USD 306 million) includes funding for the 
purchase of 28 patrol boats, one additional helicopter and 
the purchase of a long range tracking system with capacity up 
to 220 nautical miles.  (NOTE: Nigerian media reported 
November 27 that NIMASA had signed a services agreement with 
International Mobile Satellite Organization (ISMO) of the UK 
for a Long Range Identification Tracking System.  END NOTE.) 
Other plans include locating a workshop for the patrol boats 
on the premises for oversight and control purposes but 
out-sourcing the actual maintenance work.  In addition, 
Omatseye is looking into ways to cooperate with the Nigerian 
Air Force, which has recently acquired assets suitable for 
conducting aerial surveillance.  Omatseye wishes to contract 
services from the Protea hotel chain to manage the 42 room 
guest house at the training center with the objective of 
providing international standard accommodation for visiting 
lecturers etc. 
 
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LAGOS 00000044  002 OF 002 
 
 
LAGOS WATERS CRAMMED WITH SUSPICIOUS SHIPS 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶5.  (C)  NIMASA personnel explained the fully operational 
RMAC station to the Ambassador, pointing out the large 
numbers of ships which were identified by radar but not 
transmitting automatic identification signals (AIS) as 
required by international maritime law.  Ships with no AIS, 
or AIS that is turned off, are presumed to be in violation of 
the International Maritime Organization code and therefore 
suspected of engaging in illegal activities.  Omatseye 
suggested that these ships could be engaged in smuggling, 
illegal oil bunkering, or illegally dumping waste into the 
harbor. 
 
¶6.  (C)  Some of the ships without AIS may also be 
decommissioned and abandoned tankers which are anchored off 
Lagos harbor.  (NOTE: As many as 150 of these ships are 
off-shore according to the Indigenous Shipowners' Association 
and their lights create a false shoreline at night.  Contacts 
in the shipping community suspect that armed sea robbers and 
pirates use these derelict ships as their base of operations 
for launching attacks on vessels awaiting entrance to Lagos 
or already alongside at Lagos port.  END NOTE)  These ships 
are a hazard to navigation and their anchors have cut 
telecommunications cables in the past.  Omatseye wishes, at a 
minimum, to force these vessels to anchor outside the 
shipping lanes into Lagos harbor. 
 
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TRAINING MILITANTS TO MAN A COAST GUARD 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (C) NIMASA has agreed to take up to 250 former militants 
into their ongoing training program designed to train 1,000 
Nigerians at maritime academies abroad. (ref C)  (NOTE: This 
officer training program was launched in 2008 before the 
amnesty; it requires candidates with higher education capable 
of completing university equivalent studies and therefore is 
not ideal for the bulk of former militants, many of whom are 
illiterate or have only rudimentary levels of education.  END 
NOTE)  Omatseye suggested that he is more interested in 
training former militants to man the fleet of patrol boats 
that he plans to acquire and deploy.  Omatseye claimed to 
have spoken personally about such employment to former 
militant leader "Tom Polo," who was very receptive to the 
idea.  Omatseye believes that former militants are familiar 
both with the Nigeria's coastal waterways and creeks and have 
demonstrated skills in operating small, powered craft.  If 
rehabilitated and properly trained these ex-militants could 
form the core of an effective maritime law-enforcement unit, 
Omatseye believes. 
 
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COMMENT 
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¶8.  (C) Omatseye is a dynamic leader with a palpable will to 
improve Nigeria's maritime environment with respect to 
security, safety, pollution and economic opportunities.  He 
has launched a number of initiatives that are already bearing 
fruit such as the installation of RMAC, the acquisition of 
scavenger boats to address the pollution in Lagos harbor, the 
budget proposals for patrol boats, helicopters and Long Range 
Tracking Systems.  However, he appears to be operating in a 
legal grey-zone.  There are no clear sanctions for many of 
the practices (e.g. failure to use AIS, anchoring in sea 
lanes) he wishes to prohibit.  Likewise, NIMASA's mandate to 
develop into an independent law enforcement arm similar to 
the USCG is, at best, ambivalent.  Further legislation is 
probably needed.  Nevertheless, supporting NIMASA's vigorous 
efforts to increase its capacity are in U.S.' interests in 
the short and medium term.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶9.  ConGen Lagos coordinated this cable with Embassy Abuja. 
BLAIR