The level of insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea and other parts of Nigeria’s coastal line has become a source of great concern to President Muhammadu Buhari in recent times.
Buhari on Monday lamented that insecurity and maritime crimes are threatening the economic opportunities within the Gulf of Guinea, advising that the situation needs collaborative efforts, among stakeholders.
The president expressed his regret on this sad development at the International Maritime Conference held in Onne, Rivers State, as part of the 66th anniversary of the Nigerian Navy with the theme, ‘Optimising Collaboration for Maritime Security and Socio-Economic Development in Africa’.
Represented at the event by the Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi, President Buhari described the theme of the conference as apt and timely, as it would fashion out the best way forward for collaboration among the various security agencies to stamp out or drastically reduce maritime crime.
President Buhari also commended the efforts of the Nigerian Navy which he said has brought about decline in sea piracy and ultimately delisting of Nigeria from the International Maritime Bureau of piracy list since March 2022.
“The Nigerian Navy is the pertinent agency in the marine sector that has the responsibility in the constitution to check threats in the maritime sector. These threats have become transnational and beyond the scope and capability of one nation to deal with.
“The situation therefore calls for international collaboration and this conference therefore symbolises strategic collaborative initiative between the Nigerian Navy and other international maritime stakeholders, to mitigate the increasing vulnerabilities in African waters 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, said 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.
“Most disturbing is that most of the criminal activities are directed at economic life of both littoral and landlocked states.
“The present situation calls for increasing international collaboration and intelligence cooperation within states.
“Let me at this juncture acknowledge several past missions at continental levels of operation across regions and collaboration towards integration of organic national probability aimed at achieving holistic and sustainable maritime security architecture for the country.”
