The Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ghana Maritime Authority to jointly combat piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.
At a brief ceremony to sign the agreement in Lagos yesterday, Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside noted that the MoU is also to promote knowledge sharing, joint implementation of Cabotage law, among others.
The MoU is expected to last four years and it is subject to renewal.
He said the MoU is also to engender healthy competition among both countries and put an end to rivalry.
The NIMASA boss said that the agreement is to enable knowledge transfer and sharing, capacity building initiative, combined research initiative, Cabotage enforcement initiative, as well as joint effort to combat piracy and terrorism
"The MoU is to build a relationship that would support the aspirations of both countries.
We are conscious of the fact that both countries are endowed, what we need to do is to put our acts together and unleash our potentials and Maximize the benefit of the emerging blue economy, the blue economy has the potential of catalysing economic growth in our country"
"Africans must corporate to solve their own problems; nobody outside Africa would help us solve our problems. If we think the western world would take up our challenges as theirs, we are only day dreaming"
“If we must turn around the fortune of our countries, particularly the west African region, then we must corporate with each other. There are areas where we are stronger than Ghana and vice-versa it is just about sharing information, "he stated.
According to him, with the MoU, Ghana Maritime Authority would be opening a new page in her quest to become one of the greatest maritime administration in Africa.
He noted that in terms of Cabotage trade, Nigeria is stronger that Ghana, hence the need for the country to learn from Nigeria in establishing a Cabotage regime in Ghana. He also added that in the quest to establish a Maritime University, Nigeria also has a lot to learn from Ghana who has already established itself in area of manpower development..
"Ghana should learn from us in their Cabotage, Ghana has developed a regional maritime university that is fast becoming a model, we are about to start our own and we need to learn from you"
"Intra-African cooperation is the way to go; it would give us all the advantages and no disadvantage. We must begin to find African solution to African problems; nobody will find solution to African problems for us"
"When pirates attack vessels on the waters, they don't target vessels because they flag Nigeria flag, they do so their immediate benefit, he does not care if you are a Ghanaian or a Nigerian. So it is in our duty to fight them together"
Also speaking, President of Ghana Maritime Authority, Kwame Owusu expressed delight on the MoU signing, even as he stressed that the punishment to be meted out to pirates should be the same both in Ghana and Nigeria.
"When I took affairs in Ghana, I see what is being done in Nigeria, so we came to learn first.
"Competition should not be in a way that it would drive people away from one place to another, we would like to see consistency. The punish of pirates in Nigeria should be the same to Ghana so that they don't run for cover" he said
Owusu also pledged that Ghana would give Nigeria all support in her bid to seek re-election into the category 'C' of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
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