By Brave Dickson
Transporters of the Port Harcourt-Bonny water routes have blamed the military especially the navy for not fighting sea pirates.
One of the transporters and former Chairman, Bonny Marine Transporters Association, Mr Golden Hart told our correspondent that security would have improved on the Bonny water ways if the military had been active.
Mr Hart, however, commended the Bonny council authority for purchasing gunboats to fight sea criminals and the marine police whom he described as very helpful.
He lamented over the excuses given by the military personnel each time their attention was called upon to combat pirates and appealed to the navy to be serious with their water securing jobs.
Also Read: National Oil Spill Reference Laboratory opens in Port Harcourt
“The Bonny local government has tried its best by purchasing some gunboats for the marine police.
“But we are not seeing the navy and the army on the sea. The boats we see are just marine police.
“We are still appealing to other security agencies to assist the marine police in keeping gunboats in strategic areas where the boat operators have shown them because it will be better for the travellers.
“We as boat people, each time we are attacked by pirates, we do approach the military to board our normal boats to chase these sea robbers, but they keep telling us that until they get an order from above that they can’t act.
“By the time we wait for the order from above to get to the rural area, it is late already.
“It is only the marine police that whenever we call them, they will respond immediately,” he said.
