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
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey
