Headlines
ECOWAS Toughens Stand on Piracy
Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have adopted the Supplementary Act for the Transfer of Piracy Suspects and their Associated Property and /or Evidence for prosecution in West Africa.
The adoption was made at the 61st Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government on Sunday in Accra, Ghana.
In a communique by the Authority, the adoption of the said Act was to further strengthen the gains made in securing the region’s maritime domain from acts of piracy.
Over the past decade, the Gulf of Guinea region has been at the epicenter of the global discussions on maritime security as a result of the incidents of piracy recorded in the region.
In 2013, leaders of the members states of ECOWAS, the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC), responded to this threat by adopting the Yaoundé Code of Conduct to provide a framework to facilitate cooperation at the regional level to prevent and prosecute piracy and other illegal activities in the Gulf of Guinea waters. In line with this framework, several initiatives have been undertaken at the bilateral and multilateral levels to suppress piracy in the region’s maritime domain.
Notwithstanding these efforts, several factors such as the absence of robust maritime legal frameworks in the Gulf of Guinea states to prosecute acts of piracy has immensely undermined these efforts, and to date, only a few countries like Cabo Verde, Togo, Nigeria, Senegal, and Liberia have criminalized piracy and established universal jurisdiction in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982, to prosecute acts of piracy.
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Experts believed this situation has accounted for the very few successful prosecutions in the region over the past decade, like the Hailufeng II and G Dona 1 piracy prosecutions recorded in Nigeria and Togo respectively.
A statement on Monday by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in response to this challenge and to further strengthen regional cooperation, ECOWAS in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) developed the Supplementary Act on the Conditions of Transfer of Persons Suspected of Having Committed Acts of Piracy and their Associated Property and/or Evidence among ECOWAS members states, with support from the European Union (EU) through the project, “Support to West Africa Integrated Maritime Security (SWAIMS)”.
According to the statement: “The Act serves to facilitate the transfer of piracy suspects and the associated property and/or evidence to member states with the appropriate legal framework to ensure ‘legal finish’ with the prosecution of piracy, while ensuring compliance with applicable international human rights law, including the treatment of suspected or transferred persons, as well the inclusion of provision on death penalty to safeguard that no transferred person or persons are subjected to death sentence for acts of piracy.”
The statement added that: “As a follow-up to the successful adoption of the Supplementary Act, ECOWAS and UNODC have initiated the process for the development of implementing arrangements, in the form of Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs), to ensure the successful implementation of the Act among member states. The SOPs will essentially cover three (3) aspects, the phase of the transfer process from the point after a positive decision by the sending state/arresting state to transfer persons suspected piracy, to the phase of pre-trial proceedings and lastly the phase of the main trial and appeal proceedings.
“As part of the process for the development of the SOPs, legal finish assessments of the criminal justice chain of some ECOWAS member states that have been identified as potential receiving states under this regional transfer agreement is being conducted.”
Headlines
Commission, journalists partner to revamp water sector in Kaduna
The Kaduna State Water Services Regulatory Commission (KADWREC) says it is partnering media practitioners towards revamping water services in the state.
Mr Dogara Bashir, the Executive Chairman of KADWREC, disclosed this on Monday at a one-day workshop organised for media practitioners on regulation of ‘Water, Sanitation and Hygiene’ (WASH) activities held in Kaduna.
Bashir said the commission was aware of the importance of the role media practitioners played in the society.
He stated that the workshop was to provide an avenue to liaise with them as important stakeholders on water supply and sanitation services in the state.
Bashir said: “As media practitioners, we believe you are a gateway to the citizens so, the workshop would acquaint you with some of the regulations already in place so that you can in turn transmit it to the public
“The state of water services in Kaduna State is in dire need of attention and the State Water Corporation and KADWREC were established towards addressing the seeming challenges.
“The commission is mandated to ensure better service delivery and regulation of water and sanitation services in the State.
“The idea is that once the regulations are developed, we send them to the State Ministry of Justice to gazette and then we get the state government to endorse and give the go ahead to commence the implementation of the regulations
“We intend to implement them fully come January, 2025 God willing, as we have embarked on advocacy activities having gone to zones 1 and 2 where we talked to traditional rulers, security agencies and the Judiciary.”
He disclosed that a special Court has already been attached to the commission by the Chief Judge of the State for service providers who may likely violate regulations.
The chairman further said that amongst the commission’s objectives include ensuring security, reliability and quality of service in the production and delivery of water to the consumers as well making regulations to control the sinking of boreholes.
Others included; maximising access to water services by promoting and facilitating consumer connections to distribution systems in urban and rural areas.
According to Bashir, they also include ensuring that regulatory decision-making has regards to all the relevant health, safety, environmental and social legislation applying to the water sector.
Bashir further said that the commission collaborate with the relevant state and federal agencies on water policies.
Crime
2 ladies docked for allegedly obtaining money by fraud
The police in Lagos have dragged two women, Mmesuma Ofunna, and Blessing Adimekwe, before an Ojo Magistrates’ Court in Lagos, over alleged obtaining money by false pretence.
Ofunna, 22, and Adimekwe, 25, were arraigned before the Magistrate, Mr L K J Layeni, on a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, obtaining by false pretence, stealing and conduct likely to breach peace.
They each, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The prosecutor, ASP Simon Uche, told the court that the defendants conspired with others now at large, to commit the offence on Oct. 26 at the Okokomaiko area of Ojo.
He alleged that they had obtained the sum of N70, 000 from one Faith Ahamefule, with a promise not to post her nude photo on social media.
The prosecutor alleged that the defendants later posted the nude photo of the nominal complainant on social media, knowing that their promise was false.
He alleged that they stole the N70, 0000, thereby conducting themselves in a manner likely to breach public peace.
The offence contravenes the provisions of sections 168(d), 287, 314, and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.
The court granted the defendants bails in the sum of N500, 000 each, with two sureties each in like sum.
He adjourned the case until Jan. 8, 2025 for mention.
Headlines
Driver jailed 6 months for attempting to steal a car
A Jos Magistrates’ Court on Monday, sentenced a 37-year-old driver, Ahmad Umar to six months in imprisonment for attempting to steal a car.
The Magistrate, Shawomi Bokkos, summarily tried and sentenced the convict after he pleaded guilty to the charge.
Bokkos in his judgment, ordered the convict to pay an option of N30, 000 fine or spend six months in prison.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, Insp Ibrahim Gokwat, told the court that the case was reported on Oct. 10, at the Area Command Police station through a distress call by one Sydney Peacemorie the complainant.
Gokwat said the complainant parked his Toyota RAV4 in front of Access Bank and went inside to carry out some transactions, only to return to find the convict inside his car.
“The convict unlawfully opened the car and was in the driver’s seat when the complainant raised alarm and he was apprehended, but his accomplice escaped.
“The convict was severely beaten by a mob but was rescued by the police,” said Gokwat.
“The prosecutor said that the offence contravened the Plateau Penal Code Law.
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