By YANGE IKYAA
Nigeria’s vast resources from the ocean, which include oil and gas, underscore the importance of the bill recently passed by the Senate seeking to provide a legal framework for the administration of Nigeria’s territorial sea and offshore activities.
Territorial sea, in addition to internal waters, is a zone within which Nigeria enjoys sovereignty, even as the legal nature of the maritime zone is relevant and sacrosanct to the negotiation process of the establishment of maritime boundaries.
“Recent events with neighboring states have brought to the fore the seeming shortcomings of Nigeria’s policy on the ocean”
This “Bill for an Act to Repeal the Exclusive Economic Zone Act 2004; and the Territorial Waters Act 2004 and Enact the Nigerian Maritime Zone Act to Provide for Maritime Zones in Nigeria” was sponsored by Senator George Thompson Sekibo (PDP, Rivers East) and its passage followed the consideration of a report on it by the committee on judiciary, human rights and legal matters.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, in his presentation, said the bill seeks to streamline all national laws and efforts in line with global best practices in other jurisdictions and provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
He also noted that recent events with neighboring states have brought to the fore the seeming shortcomings of Nigeria’s policy on the ocean, which is not consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
“These obvious shortcomings have made it imperative for us to review our maritime zone legislation, and the underlying policy to enable Nigeria to advance its argument for the ‘Extended Continental Shelf’ claim and effective management of the coastal and ocean environment”, he said.
Other marine resources to be regulated by the bill when signed by President Muhammadu Buhari to become a law include fish and fisheries resources, minerals, placer deposits, salt, and renewable energy resources, amongst others.
According Senator Bamidele, the legislation passed by the red chamber sets out the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas belonging to Nigeria should be carried out.
The bill, under part vi, provides for the prosecution of offences at the instance of the Attorney-General of the Federation.
In clause 18, it provides that “where a person is found guilty of any offence committed in Artificial Island, Installation or Structure, he shall upon conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than one year or a fine of N3 million naira or both.”
