The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Tuesday, commissioned a surveillance system called Falcon Eye, to curb maritime threats in the country.
This was disclosed in a statement released by the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande.
The statement read, “Nigeria’s deployment of the state-of-the-art surveillance system, Falcon Eye for maritime security will save the country several billions of US dollars, while effectively degrading piracy and other crimes around the Gulf of Guinea and beyond, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, who represented the President today at the commissioning of the facility.
“The surveillance facility incorporates various sensors located along the nation’s enormous coastline.”
“It is estimated that Nigeria loses several billions of dollars annually to various forms of criminality particularly piracy and sea robbery,” the statement quoted Osinbajo as saying.
Osinbajo also added that on account of “the escalated risks in some of our maritime areas, insurance premiums for commercial vessels coming to these areas have risen sharply making maritime trade an unattractive proposition.
“This underscores the need to enhance our maritime security architecture. Consequently, a critical contribution of the Falcon Eye System will be the provision of actionable intelligence for curbing maritime threats to our economy.”
Osibanjo also revealed that the maritime industry “occupies a prominent position in the matrix of our vital economic interests and it encompasses activities ranging from fishing and resource exploration to marine research and shipping among other endeavours.
“Of all these activities, shipping stands out as a critical link in Nigeria’s international trade engagements because it is the cheapest and most efficient means of moving large volumes of goods.
“Given our economic aspirations and our commitment to international trade, ensuring the security of shipping lanes within and proximate to our waters is in our national interest,” the Vice President said
Placing emphasis on the critical nature of the surveillance system, Osinbajo said, “the Falcon Eye System will serve as a force multiplier for our naval platforms tasked to effectively secure our maritime environment from external aggression. It will also enable the Nigerian Navy to effectively combat any maritime crime that could disrupt the conduct of maritime trade.”
(The Punch)
