ECOWAS Defence Chiefs Move To Check Piracy

The Committee of  Eco

nomic Community of West African African States (ECOWAS)  Chiefs of Defence Staff  (CCDS), has established a monitoring group to ensure implementation of maritime strategies aimed at curbing piracy in the sub-region.

Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, disclosed this in Abidjan last Saturday at a meeting of ECOWAS CCDS.

Petinrin said piracy and sea robbery, which had continued to thrive in the maritime domains of some member-states within the Gulf of Guinea, had remained a matter of serious concern.

He noted the implication of the menace on the socio-economic and political development of the sub-region.

According to the CDS, the committee has also expanded the Sub-Committee on Maritime Security to 11 member-states with three legal experts on maritime security.

“We have also conducted joint sea exercises and patrolling of the Gulf of Guinea by member-states,’’ Petinrin said.

“To tackle the problem of cross-border criminality, we set up multinational joint task forces and this has, to a large extent, assisted in intelligence gathering and information sharing.’’

Petinrin said the committee had ensured better coordination and put in place a communication network to facilitate exchange of information and intelligence.

“The instability in Libya and the activities of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) have, no doubt, had a spill-over effect on our sub-region.

“We are also contending with the activities of some sect with extreme religious beliefs, who are bent on threatening the security of lives and properties of citizens of the sub-region.’’

He said the challenges facing the committee were enormous but not insurmountable, adding that the committee was in a better position to proffer workable solutions to the region’s common problems.

“Therefore, we must not relent in our efforts to ensure that the current threats in the Sahel Region and the Gulf of Guinea are decisively dealt with in order to provide a secured environment for the socio-economic development of the sub-region.’’

The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Adm. Ola Ibrahim, said the fact that maritime security featured in the meeting of ECOWAS CCDS underscored the need to end piracy in the sub-region.

He  said the meeting was another opportunity to sell the idea of cooperation in the maritime domain to member-states.

Ibrahim , who said the Nigerian Navy was cooperating with neighbouring states to end piracy, stressed the need for the cooperation and support of other security agencies.