Following the recent abduction of over 20 passengers along the Oron-Calabar waterways, former Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Aderemi Adeoye, has attributed the poor security response to challenging topography and ‘overstretched’ marine policing resources.
Speaking during Monday’s edition of Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, Adeoye highlighted communication difficulties exacerbated by the terrain, describing the waterways as a major barrier to swift incident response.
“When incidents like this happen, the problem of communication has to do with the topography of where the incident occurred — the waterways,” he said.
Adeoye explained that the Police Marine Section, which is responsible for securing the waterways, is severely overstretched. He attributed this to inadequate patrol equipment and insufficient personnel to cover the vast and often remote aquatic routes.
“Policing on water is done by the Police Marine Section, and just like land forces are overstretched, the Marine Police capabilities are more than overstretched because the equipment they have, both to patrol waterways and personnel, are not the numbers they should be,” he added.
He stressed that these limitations hinder the Marine Police’s capacity to maintain a consistent and effective presence, leaving critical areas vulnerable to criminal activities such as kidnappings.
Adeoye pointed out that, in many cases, the absence of nearby boats during such incidents means there are no immediate witnesses to relay information to authorities.
He stressed the importance of human intelligence and community engagement, suggesting that establishing robust relationships with local residents could facilitate quicker reporting of suspicious activities.
“We are in the communication age where all it takes is a call or text to alert the authorities, but people can only alert when they have the numbers,” he stated.
The former commissioner also mentioned the need for improved collaboration between commands, particularly among neighbouring states sharing jurisdiction over the waterways.
In the specific case of the Oron-Calabar abduction, he suggested that once Akwa Ibom confirmed the incident, they should have immediately alerted Cross River authorities to coordinate efforts in locating and rescuing the victims.
