Nigeria and the Republic of Kenya have reiterated the need to intensify its partnership on maritime security for effectiveness and efficiency.
The Kenyan High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr. Wilfred Machage, said it was important for the two countries to deepen its symbiotic relationship through collective efforts of the maritime agencies.
Machage was the special guest of honour at the report presentation of the Naval War College 3 International Study Tour to the Republic of Kenya held in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, southern Nigeria.
The High Commissioner said, “we want to take the partnership with Nigeria to a higher level because collective security is crucial to combat piracy, sea robbery, illegal fishing, trafficking of human and arms”.
According to him, “overcoming such challenges on our waterways requires partnership in security to boost effectiveness and efficiency”.
Entrenching Synergy
The Commandant, Naval War College of Nigeria, NWCN, Rear Admiral Adeseye Ayobanjo said that a module in the college’s training curriculum has been tailored towards entrenching synergy between maritime security agencies.
Rear Admiral Ayobanjo stated, “participants embarked on an international study tour to the Republic of Kenya on the theme ‘Countering Piracy through Cooperative Maritime Security Efforts’”.
He explained that the menace of piracy impacts on Nigeria’s economy and the choice of Kenya was to “see how Kenya successfully tackled the menace along with its maritime domain, a situation which between 2009 and 2013 mirrored the current challenges in the Gulf of Guinea. Kenya has in the past decade made tremendous achievements in combating piracy in its maritime domain”.
Ayobanjo further remarked, “the menace of piracy in Nigerian waters and the Gulf of Guinea, in general, affects crude oil activities, fishing, and cargo shipping causing high premiums to be charged on goods”.
Global Menace
The Commandant said that piracy was a global menace, which cuts across maritime boundaries of littoral states and required cooperative efforts to tackle.
“There is no gainsaying the fact that the complexities and fluidity of contemporary security challenges in the maritime environment that includes piracy, has made it imperative for security agencies to synergize their efforts and capabilities towards attaining national security,” he said.
He expressed the hope that the participants of the NWCN 3 International Study Tour would provide deep insights into their findings from Kenya, which would assist the Nigerian Navy and other maritime security agencies as well as stakeholders.
Source: VON
