By Olayemi Esan
The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo has said that the increasing potentials of the Blue Economy has no doubt expanded the duties, roles and responsibilities of navies and maritime law enforcement agencies operating in African waters.
Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo was speaking at the flagging off of the Sea Power for Africa Symposium on Tuesday, hosted virtually at the Naval Headquarters Abuja, Nigeria.
Considering that over 90 per cent exports are covered by sea, Admiral Gambo stated that gatherings of this nature are vital to forging collaborative frameworks towards protecting the over 18,950 miles of coastline on the African continent.
He added that, the exploration of natural resources is forging new frontiers. For instance, the huge natural gas reserve potentials on the continent amounting to a total of more than 800 trillior ubic feet, would no doubt accelerate Blue Economy activities.
As the production of natural gas is pected to expan y 80 per cent by 2035, maritime security to be critical enabler of economic growth and prosperity for African nations.
This he said was typified by the launching of the Falcon Eye Intelligence
Facility, the Deep Blue Project and different asset acquisition and capacity building programmes of the Nigerian Navy.
He stated that these efforts and investments are yielding the required outputs especially with recent reports of drop in piracy incidents within our waters.
While flagging off the Symposium, the Minister of Defence, Retired Major General Bashir Magashi identified the promulgation of the Harmonized Standard Operating Procedures on Arrest, Detention and Prosecution of Vessels and Persons in Nigeria’s Maritime Environment document in 2016 as a template for all maritime stakeholders in Nigeria.
General Magashi who was represented by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor said the planning and organization of the symposium is undeniably a welcome development especially with recent efforts towards consolidating and ensuring a downward slope of maritime criminalities within and around Nigeria’s maritime domain.
General Magashi also noted that the upcoming Nigeria Maritime Strategy is an added policy tool that would further galvanise national maritime resources towards the actualization of a virile Blue Economy that is underpinned by an effective maritime security architecture.
He emphasized the immense support of President Muhammadu Buhari, towards the modernization of the Nigerian Armed Forces and stated that the process has included documentation and codification of enabling policy instruments aimed at achieving comprehensive enforcement of maritime laws.
The CNS also said the Federal Government is working assiduously with different stakeholders and tiers in government to ensure that the root causes of piracy and other maritime crimes are mitigated through non-kinetic programmes and constructive community engagements.
In retrospect, the tradition of the Sea Power of Africa Symposium was initiated by the Chiefs of the Navies in Ghana Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa at the International Sea Power Symposium held in 2003 at Rhodes Island, USA.
The Symposium offers a veritable platform for African maritime nations to congregate and cooperate to address maritime challenges facing the continent.
The maiden edition was hosted by South Africa in 2005, followed by Nigeria in 2006 and again South Africa in 2009. The 2021 edition is the first to be hosted virtually.
