The Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Adm. Ibok-Ete Ibas, has said that the Nigerian Navy partnership with its allies in the sub-region was to ensure the safety of the Gulf of Guinea.
Ibas stated this at the opening of the 2019 Nigerian Navy Transformation Workshop for Senior Officers in Abuja.
The theme of the workshop was “Performance Thinking, Leadership and Communication Organisational Agility.’’
Ibas, who was represented by the Chief of Policy and Plans, Rear Adm. Begroy Ibe-Enwo, noted that the peace and security of the nation’s maritime domain remain important.
He said this was to ensure that the maritime domain serves as the main artery to the nation’s economic prosperity and national development.
“The Nigerian Navy in partnership with our allies in the sub-region and beyond must go over and beyond the call of duty towards ensuring the safety of the Gulf of Guinea.
“Prior to now, the Malacca strait was reported as the hotbed of piracy globally. However, the Gulf of Guinea is now being reported as the epicenter of the piracy,’’ he said.
The CNS said the International Maritime Bureau reported 72 attacks in 2018 on vessels at sea from Ivory Coast to Cameroon.
“With increased patrols and concerted efforts of the Nigerian navy and other regional navies, only about 30 attacks, most of them unsuccessful have been reported this year (2019).
“Nevertheless, more still needs to be done to totally rid the Gulf of Guinea (GOG) of this menace,’’ he said.
Ibas described the Gulf of Guinea as important to the economic development of the nations that make up the Guinea Commission and the entire West Africa sub-region.
He said the Nigerian navy would continue to develop the capacity of its personnel towards confronting challenging threats, “both existing and emerging.’’
“These threats are in direct confrontation to our roles as guardians of the maritime domain wherein it is our enshrined constitutional duty to ensure peace and security of the entirety of the nation’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) territorial and Brown Waters,’’ he said.
Ibas said the continuous changing nature of warfare and the need to be ahead of the curve necessitated the change from the trident strategy to a more expansive “Total Spectrum Maritime Strategy’’.
“The import of this strategic change and the mileage that we have been able to leverage from the new maritime strategy is not lost on the audience, as it has afforded the Nigerian Navy the ability to combat not only conventional threats, but asymmetric threats.’’
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