– Applauds Navy over delisting of Nigeria from IMB piracy list
Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday lamented that insecurity and maritime crimes are threatening economic opportunities within the Gulf of Guinea, saying that the situation needs collaborative efforts among stakeholders.
The President said this at the International Maritime Conference in Onne, Rivers State as part of activities for the 66th anniversary of the Nigerian Navy, with the theme, ‘optimising collaboration for maritime security and socio-economic development in Africa.’
President Buhari represented at the event by the Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi, described the theme of the conference as apt and timely, as it would fashion out the best way forward for collaboration among security architectures to curb maritime crime.
He commended the efforts of the Nigerian Navy which he said has brought about decline in sea piracy and ultimately delisting of Nigeria from the piracy list of the International Maritime Bureau, since March 2022.
“The situation therefore calls for international collaboration and this conference therefore symbolizes strategic collaborative initiative between the Nigerian Navy and other international maritime stakeholders, to mitigate the increasing vulnerabilities in African water especially in the Gulf of Guinea.
“This region, we all know is very rich and endowed with living and non living resources and therefore the economic opportunities therein as well as the strategic problems cannot be overemphasised.
“These prospects are however threatened by the rising insecurity and maritime crimes that impaired the development of the Gulf of Guinea States.
“It’s therefore apt to posit that any collaborative initiative by the Nigerian Navy to build partnership across the Gulf of Guinea is in the right direction, to optimise credible capacity that will guarantee our collective maritime defence.
“To this end, we owe a strong reason to support the Nigerian Navy and I make bold to commend the Nigerian Navy for their giant strides in maritime security operations, which resulted to several arrests of economic saboteurs, perpetrators of illegal bunkering, smugglers, pipeline vandals, and other miscreants in the fight against illegality in the Gulf of Guinea maritime domain.”
Earlier, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, maintained that collaboration was imperative as maritime crimes within the Gulf of Guinea have become transnational and are beyond the scope and combat capability of one nation.
“The current security threats in the gulf of guinea is of serious concern to us all gathered here today, as well as the larger African and global community. Most disturbing is that most of the criminal activities are directed at economic life of both littoral and landlocked states.
“One of the major implications is the the increasing demand for effective collaboration in maritime policing, the present situation calls for greater international collaboration as well as intelligence cooperations within states.”
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