By PAUL ADAJI, Abuja –
The Nigerian Navy has expressed concern over the upsurge in cases of stowaways in Nigerian waters.
Director of Information at the Naval headquarters, Commodore A. Adams-Aliu, who made this known in a statement, noted that between August 2023 and April 2024 alone, the Nigerian Navy had apprehended about 75 stowaways.
The Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (FAL Convention) defines a stowaway as someone who is secreted on a ship, or in cargo without the consent of the shipowners or the master or any other responsible person.
According to commodore Adams-Aliu, “migration as a stowaway is illegal, dangerous and is considered a security threat to shipowners.”
He disclosed that in line with the strategic directive of the Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, the NN deployed advanced Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) equipment to vector Quick Response Teams (QRT) to all parts of Nigeria’s territorial waters.
Specifically, the details of stowaways extracted by the NN between August 2023 and April 2024 are shown in the table below:
| Serial | Date | Name of Vessel | Number of Stowaways | Location | Remarks |
| (a) | (b) | (c) | (d) | (e) | (f) |
| 1. | August 2023 | MSC MARTHA | 5 | Lagos Channel | |
| 2. | September 2023 | CHARMINAR PANAMA | 8 | Lagos Fairway Buoy | |
| 3. | October 2023 | GWANGZHOU HIGHWAY PANAMA | 11 | Lagos Channel | |
| 4. | November 2023 | NATAL | 8 | Lagos Fairway Buoy | |
| 5. | December 2023 | CONTAINER VESSEL TEME | 4 | Lagos Channel | |
| 6. | December 2023 | GRANDE GUINEA | 2 | Lagos Fairway Buoy | |
| 7. | December 2023 | MT UOG CONSTANTINE | 14 | Lagos Channel | |
| 8. | January 2024 | FRONT ALTIERS | 3 | Lagos Fairway Buoy | |
| 9. | February 2024 | MT CHIP | 4 | Lagos Channel | |
| 10. | March 2024 | MT ADVANTAGE LOVE | 3 | Lagos Channel | |
| 11. | March 2024 | MT LYSIAS VALLETTA | 9 | Lagos Fairway Buoy | |
| 12. | April 2024 | MT PRINCESS ERIN | 4 | Lagos Channel | |
| Total August 2023 – April 2024 | 75 | ||||
He disclosed that during the operations, the QRT carefully extracted the stowaways who had concealed themselves inside the rudder compartment of the vessels.
“All apprehended stowaways were handed over to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in accordance with the established protocols for further necessary action,” he said.
He identified the dangers of attempting to travel as a stowaway to include severe legal consequences and significant health risks such as negative effects of harsh weather conditions, lack of food and water, injuries and even death.
According to Commodore Adams-Aliu, it was in view of such dangers that the Nigerian Navy was discouraging Nigerian youths from embarking on such misadventures.
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