By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari has revealed that the country spent at least $195 million in the fight against piracy in the Gulf of Guinea through the Deep Blue Project, by the deployment of boats, vehicles and aircraft against economic sabotage in the region in 2021 alone.
The Nigerian leader while addressing the 3rd Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC) on Tuesday in Accra, Ghana, stressed that the theme of the Session “Building a Safe, Secure and Prosperous Gulf of Guinea Region for Sustainable Development” is quite apt and significant towards addressing the challenges in the Region.
“We must remain committed to our regular GGC Summits and the Extraordinary Sessions and use these deep-seated fundamental platforms to essentially continue to work out key modalities that could afford us the opportunity to discuss, identify, support strategies and develop capacities to achieve peace, security and prosperity in the Gulf of Guinea Region”, Buhari who is attending the session for the last time as Nigeria’s president stated.
While highlighting his country’s readiness towards fighting maritime insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea, Buhari encouraged member countries to enact laws against piracy and other criminal acts as Nigeria has done.
He stressed the steps so far taken by Nigeria to further show its steadfastness to the revitalization and strengthening of the GGC in order to achieve set objectives.
“As a demonstration of Nigeria’s strong commitment towards the repositioning of the GGC into a more vibrant organization that will effectively deliver on its mandate, the 5th Ordinary Summit of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Gulf of Guinea Commission was hosted on 13th October, 2022 in Abuja, where the Assembly adopted policy decisions towards revitalising the Commission.
“Nigeria considers the effective and optimal function of the GGC as strategic to the global security interests in the Gulf region. These commitments include addressing issues of Piracy, Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons, Protection of Marine Resources as well as Irregular Migration to the Region,” he said.
Speaking further, the President said that “in June, 2019, Nigeria’s National Assembly passed the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences Act, 2019, (POMO act) which aims to prevent and suppress Piracy, Armed Robbery and any other unlawful acts against any ship lawfully operating in the Gulf Region.
The Nigerian leader used the occasion to express his appreciation to President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, the Chairperson of the Assembly, for the invitation, as well as Ambassador Florence Ukonga, the Nigerian outgoing Executive Secretary of the GGC and her Management Team for their dedication and selflessness in the discharge of their functions.
Buhari especially commended the dignified way Ambassador Ukonga had faced the daunting financial challenges in a way that it did not compromise the integrity of the organization, urging member countries to be alive to their financial commitments and responsibilities.
