Lt Gen. Obed Akwa, Rear Admiral Moses Beick in a group photograph with the chiefs of naval staff
The Ghana Navy is hosting the 2019 edition of the Gulf of Guinea Chiefs of Naval Staff Symposium to fashion out how to curb the increasing problems of crimes perpetrated on the Gulf of Guinea.
The symposium dubbed, “Working Together for Common Security in the Gulf of Guinea,” is part of the G7 ++ summit attended by naval chiefs within the Gulf States as well as officials of navies and marine police.
The Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) of the Ghana Navy, Rear Admiral Seth Amoama, in an interview with the media, said the multi-dimensional threats in the Gulf of Guinea threaten the region’s economic development, especially as it has earned the notoriety as the most unsafe waters in the world.
He said “in the Gulf of Guinea, piracy is a great concern, as it is currently being described as the hot bird of piracy in the world but there are mechanisms to deal with it although they are a little slow.”
Rear Admiral Amoama continued that by coming together as naval chiefs of countries along the Gulf of Guinea, it was their hope to build up the institutions with ships, the resources and the capacity to be able to address issues of piracy and other crimes perpetrated on our waters.
“It is better to have a network of systems developed locally with various governments which are working, rather than bringing a task force from Europe which is very expensive, temporary and not sustainable so with what we are developing in west Africa, we have a more sustainable way of addressing the issue of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea so that individual nations will take the full benefit of resources in their maritime domain.”
Touching on some of the attacks on the high seas, Real Admiral OB Daji, Nigerian Chief Of Naval Staff said some of the attacks that happened on the high sea are misrepresented hence the need to partner with relevant stakeholders in order to ensure that issues which affects them collectively are dealt with.
The Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant General Obed Akwa who read a speech on behalf of the minister of Defence, Dominic Nitiwul, said it was common knowledge that the Gulf of Guinea had virtually become an epicenter of Maritime insecurities and continues to attract negative reportage.
Present at the event was the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt Gen. Obed Akwa, Rear Admiral Moses Beick, the Commandant of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College
(lindatenyah@gmail.com)
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey