The Nigerian Navy (NN) Thursday said it had acquired Israeli-installed mass civil surveillance system known as Falcon Eye in a bid to tackle crude oil theft and bring it to an end.

This system, they said, would enable it monitor and track suspected crude oil thieves and other sea criminals within the country’s territorial waters.

The former Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Francis Akpan (rtd), while speaking at the inaugural lecture of officers’ long course organised by the Nigerian Naval Ship (NNS) QUORRA, said the system would assist in monitoring, tracking and collating maritime activities to protect national interest.

He also said the Falcon Eye system would enable the force monitor the movement of vessels within the country’s territorial waters and the Gulf of Guinea, and enable them to track such vessels and ultimately arrest them.

Akpan, who spoke in the capacity of a guest lecturer at the ceremony, also said the system would analyse and share information with stakeholders to enable them have a better understanding of maritime security issues.

Stressing that maritime security is the responsibility of major stakeholders within the maritime community, he said:“The Falcon Eye will provide a centre where the activities within the exclusive economic zone would be monitored.

“Those who contravene such laws would be identified and the agency that is responsible to ensure that those who act with impunity are sanctioned would be in a position to act immediately.”
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He said the Nigeria navy must champion the cause of maritime safety and security because it has the institution to do so, adding that the navy must drive the process of partnering with every other member of the maritime community in other to achieve maritime security.

Earlier, the Flag Officer Commanding Naval Training Command, Rear Admiral Adeniyi Osinowo, said perpetrators of maritime crimes such as oil theft, illicit arms, drug and human trafficking are getting bolder.

Thus, he said there is need to fashion out a new approach that would put such perpetrators in constant check and pressure.

He said such approaches must transcend traditional method and national efforts, given that it’s the reason the navy has continuously advocated for collaboration with other maritime security agencies within Nigeria as well as other nations in the sub-region in a bid to evolving a comprehensive security architecture.

Osinowo said: “I am confident and proud to state that the Nigerian navy has taken the lead by establishing surveillance infrastructure such as the Regional Maritime Awareness Capability Centre (RMAC) and most recently, the Falcon Eye project.”

The Commandant of the NNS QUORRA, Commodore Francis Isaac, also revealed that the United States Government had sponsored four naval officers from Benin Republic and Togo to attend the training on the installation of the Falcon Eye surveillance system.