NIMASA fast intervention vessel approaching tankers at anchorage sea during operation Blue-Green.
Nigeria’s maritime regulator has begun a new intelligence-led enforcement drive in Lagos waters, boarding and inspecting vessels for cabotage, certification and levy compliance, and says the operation will now become a regular feature of its work.
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) said it deployed assets from the Deep Blue Project — formally the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure — together with other maritime security units for the coordinated exercise, code-named “Blue-Green.”
According to the a release by Edward Osagie, NIMASA’s Head of Public Relations, the operation combined intelligence gathering, analysis and target development with at-sea enforcement. A new specialised intelligence tool inside NIMASA’s Deep Blue network and its Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4i) system was used to identify, assess and prioritise vessels of interest and to feed real-time information to boarding teams.
Several vessels were boarded and checked for statutory certificates, cargo and voyage papers, surcharge payments and compliance with the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act.
Director-General Dayo Mobereola said the Lagos exercise would be formalised as a standing model.
“Following the outcome of the operation, we at NIMASA will formalise Blue-Green as a recurring intelligence-led enforcement model and progressively expand similar operations to other maritime regions, including Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri, in line with operational readiness and intelligence priorities,” he said.
Mobereola added that the use of multiple enforcement platforms was intended as a deterrent. “This deployment of multiple enforcement platforms is to serve as deterrent to anybody with criminal intentions. We are glad with the level of cooperation from the armed forces.”
NIMASA said the operation showed the value of linking its inspectors with C4i intelligence and Deep Blue sea, air and surveillance assets. The agency framed the drive as both a security and a revenue measure: tighter compliance on certificates, cabotage rules and statutory charges, it said, should strengthen maritime regulation and improve collections.
The Deep Blue Project, launched in 2021, is Nigeria’s main multi-domain maritime security programme. NIMASA has previously credited it with helping cut piracy in Nigerian waters and the wider Gulf of Guinea. Blue-Green appears to apply that architecture more directly to routine regulatory enforcement, not only to armed crime at sea.
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