The SPOMO Act, which was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019, to curb and deter sea piracy, armed robbery and other unlawful acts at sea, has only been able to secure 23 convictions as of August 2022 with 10 sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. Another 10 persons were given seven years each. Three foreigners were fined for their involvement in crime within the Nigerian territorial waters.
He lamented a complete amnesia on the part of both the court and enforcers of the law, leading to the huge losses recorded in the petroleum sector, where crude oil is stolen and lifted in both large and smaller vessels out of the country. “The security agencies, by failing to apprehend criminals on our waters, are frustrating the provisions and the intent of the Act. The courts are not as hard as we expect on a few cases that we have analysed in recent times, such as in punishing maritime domain offenders of which the SPOMO Act was actually geared at. Even the enforcers, we have the prosecution done by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and maybe the office of the Attorney General of the Federation.