BY MISBAHU BASHIR
Naval chiefs from thirteen countries of the Gulf of Guinea are to meet in Calabar, Cross River State to examine ways of curbing growing maritime crimes especially crude oil theft.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) recently said the country experienced a drop in oil revenue of about $1.23 (N191 billion) basically due to theft and pipeline vandalism
The Nigeria naval headquarters said in a statement yesterday that Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dele Joseph Ezeoba and his counterparts from Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Namibia, South Africa, Benin Republic, Senegal, Togo, Gabon, Cameroun and Sao Tome and Principe as well as the Commanders, United States African Command and the US Naval Forces Africa will make presentations on maritime crimes at the first ever ‘Gulf of Guinea Regional Maritime Awareness Capability Conference’ in Calabar between July 29 and 31, 2013.
Navy’s Director of Information, Commodore Kabir Aliyu who signed the statement said “due to the expanded economic activities in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG), there has been renewed interest within the region.”
According to the statement, the maritime environment has been encumbered by various illegal maritime activities amongst which are piracy, illegal bunkering, crude oil theft and illegal fishing.
The Theme of the conference is “Regional Maritime Awareness Capability Systems: A Key for Enhancing Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea.”
Via: http://allafrica.com/
