The Senate on Thursday called on Nigeria’s security forces to secure the unconditional release of 15 abducted ferry passengers by Sea Pirates including some UTME candidates traveling from Calabar to sit for their university entry examination in Oron.
The Senate also called on the Joint Admission And Matriculation Board, JAMB to establish more examination centres in each state to prevent students from traveling outside of their states to sit for the examination as a result of worsening security situation in the country.
The resolution of the Senate follows a motion by Senator Ekong Sampson (Akwa Ibom South). Speaking on the incident , Ekong narrated how heavily armed pirates ambushed the ferry mid-sea, forcefully commandeered the vessel, before whisking away the passengers at gunpoint to unknown destinations.
He lamented that the crime has heightened fear and insecurity across the coastal communities; stressing the urgent need by the security forces to apprehend the perpetrators.
The Senate subsequently condemned in strong terms the abduction of the passengers; calling on the Chief of Naval Staff, the Inspector General of Police, and other relevant security agencies to immediately deploy rescue operations to secure unconditional release of all the abducted victims.
The upper legislative chamber also called for increased surveillance, patrol, and intelligence-gathering operations along the Calabar–Oron waterways and adjoining creeks; even as it mandated its Committees on Navy, Marine Transport, and National Security and Intelligence to urgently investigate the rising spate of maritime insecurity in the Niger Delta waterways.
