Naval Chief, Envoy, Others Parley on Crime, Insecurity (Endless parleys)

Posted by admin Latest Politics Saturday, April 20th, 2013

CHIEF of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Andrew Pocock, and important personalities in diplomacy, security and the academia, yesterday, canvassed the harmonisation of broad-based strategies in tackling incidences of crime and insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea and the coasts of West Africa.

This was at a one-day conference on West African Maritime Security and Development organised by the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) and the Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA) in Lagos.

Addressing the forum, Ezeoba said maritime crimes are complex, fluid and dynamic in nature and must be accorded serious consideration in view of security challenges and developments in the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Aden, Strait of Malacca, Gulf of Guinea and West African coasts.

Pocock, in his remarks, said national security is an important element in regional and national development of littoral and landlocked states, arguing that the time to move from analyses to action is now before the worst happens.

He explained that there is “no need for new institutions, but for existing institutions, national and regional, to work together effectively at three basic levels.”

Ezeoba added: “West African maritime space is poised to acquire increasing strategic relevance in global energy calculus on account of its huge hydrocarbon deposits and future prospects.”

The naval chief called for constructive, proactive, sustainable and holistic maritime security architecture to fight crimes costing billion of dollars and posing danger to the development of maritime and economic activities in the West African sub-region.

This, he said, could be achieved through “provision of effective and efficient Maritime Defence Architecture (MDA) capabilities and integration of all existing MDA capabilities across the West Africa sub-region into a common loop that would ensure seamless domain awareness architecture.”

According to him, “consideration must be given to the placement of robust response capability, as well as an effective legal regime and enforcement mechanism.

He said: “Furthermore, some thought should be given to the possibility of having overarching architecture to synergise the operations of the multi-national maritime security agencies of West Africa sub-region.”

Pocock noted that West African states must tackle issues of governance, security and economic opportunity as well as build partnership capacities to deal with sea and enforcement challenges by supporting existing regional organisations, like Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Gulf of Guinea Commission and seeking the assistance of the international community.

-Guardianwp_posts