The 2,500 naval personnel drawn from 33 countries’ Navies, including the United States Coast Guards, who participated in the just-concluded multinational maritime exercise code-named Exercise Obangame Express, declared war on piracy and other various forms of illegalities in the Gulf of Guinea, GoG region.
Briefing journalists at the closing ceremony of Obangame Express 2019 hosted by the Nigerian Navy, Admiral James Foggo, the Commander, US Naval Forces Africa, said drug sniffing dogs also participated in the sea exercise for the first time in nine years, with a view to arresting suspects who used the GoG corridor for illicit trafficking of drugs and weapons.
Foggo stated that 95 ships out of which eight belong to the Nigerian Navy and 12 aircrafts, participated in series of exercise and surveillance of the GoG region, in an apparent signal to sea robbers to stay off the corridor.
He described this year’s exercise as a milestone success when compared to previous ones, scored the Nigerian Navy under the watch of Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, the Chief of Naval Staff, high in its ability to host a successful exercise.
Assessing Obangame Express 2019, Admiral Foggo said, “I observed an incredible progress over the nine years period of time. Before now, we did not have African maritime operation and there was no cooperation along the lines of borders between nations o f the Gulf of Guinea. We did not have lot of equipment like ships, raider, etc.
“But since this exercise began, we’ve had the Yaounde code conduct which deals with maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea. Countries collaborate much better now than they did back in 2010 because of the existing relationship through Obanganme express, every year. The difference is like night and day, we’ve made incredible progress.
“I score this year’s exercise hosted by Nigerian Navy an ‘A’ plus. First of all, we have 33 countries coming together, with 2500 personnel from navies and Coast Guards from the Gulf of Guineas nations, Europe, Cape Verde, and North America , all came here to participate in maritime domain security.
“We did over 85 exercises in the last couple of weeks. We had 95 ships, some big like yours (Nigeria’s) NNS Thunder and some, much smaller like patrol crafts. We had 12 aircrafts that participated in providing intelligence surveillance.”
In his remark, Mansur Dan Ali, the Minister of Defence, noted that before now, security threats in the maritime domain posed an increasing policing demand for navies in the Gulf of Guinea region.
Ali added that the capability gap among navies of the Gulf of Guinea region gave rise to greater international collaboration and inter-agency cooperation across various national capabilities.
