In a bid to enhance security on Cross River state’s waterways, the Government and marine transport operators have decided to partner on protecting lives and property of water transportation in the state.
Partnership between both parties would be to prevent protect passengers from encountering criminal activities including piracy, kidnapping, and robbery on the waterways.
The emphasis was made on Sunday during a facility tour of Abitto Ferry Logistics at the Marina Resort in Calabar by the state security adviser (South), Navy Commander Patrick Odiong (retd), alongside the Special Adviser on Marine Services, Otu Ita.
Odiong explained that “basically, the visit was in line with the state security policy and the directive of the Governor of Cross River State that we ensure security in the waterways.”
He said the Governor has mandated that all marine operators within the southern senatorial districts should be censored and partner with the government to enhance security plans to strengthen their daily operations.
The security aide assured that nothing is taken for granted and the state remains uncomfortable with criminals, sea militants, or kidnappers in the state waterways.
According to him, the aim is to make the waterways friendly for investors and investments, especially as the state is working on the Bakassi Deep Seaport project.
“In that light, we came to Abitto Services to understand their security plan and challenges mainly as they transit passengers from Calabar to Akwa Ibom State,” he said.
Odiong maintained that the government is ready to partner with them and work as a team to make the waterways safe for their business.
On his part, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Marine Services, Otu Ita, re-echoed the need for marine transporters to observe security and safety standards in line with ISO provisions and ensure a good communication system at all times.
“We are here on a spot assessment to evaluate how they (Abitto Ferry) carry out their operations in terms of security and safety,” he said.
Continuing, “water transportation is important to Cross River State, and we want to ensure operators are up and doing, maintaining the international safety standards of ISO 2010 edition, ensuring the life jackets, profiling of the passengers through the manifest to checkmate the bad elements taking advantage to carry out their nefarious activities on our waterways that we don’t want,” Ita warned.
