Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh,
has assured the Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria, Melih Ulueren, that the agency will assist in rescuing 15 abducted Turkish seafarers.
Jamoh spoke at the weekend in Abuja when he visited the ambassador.
The 15 Turkish seafarers onboard a Liberian flagged vessel, MV Mozart, were abducted in the Gulf of Guinea outside Nigerian territorial waters.
The envoy also pledged his country’s support for the agency’s efforts to tackle the spate of attacks in the Gulf of Guinea.
Jamoh said the Federal Government would assist in the rescue of the abducted Turkish nationals.
The NIMASA boss said Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi had approved the deployment of two special mission vessels, under the Deep Blue project, to move towards the area where the Turkish were abducted.
He highlighted various incentives the agency was rolling out to curtail piracy and other maritime-related crime.
Jamoh noted that the successes achieved with the passage of the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences Act, 2019 (SPOMO Act), had led to successful prosecution of many maritime offenders.
