Naval Chiefs from Africa, the U.S. and the UK converged in Calabar on Monday to strategise on ways to ensure a safe and secure maritime environment in?the Gulf of Guinea.

The meeting, expected to end today, ?had no fewer than 14 African Naval Chiefs in attendance at the Tinapa Lakeside Hotel.

In his opening remarks, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Adm. Dele Ezeoba, said that the meeting was called because of challenges and threats to the economic interests of states in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG).

He said that against the background of GoG strategic location informed the decision to collaborate on the security of the region and the first Regional Maritime Awareness Capability Conference (RMACC) in Calabar.

Ezeoba said the GoG had become a source of concern to the region and the international community given its myriad of security challenges.

He said the threats on regional security included piracy, sea robbery, drug and human trafficking, pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft.

Ezeoba also listed illegal, unregulated and unreported [IUU] fishing, proliferation of small arms and light weapons and environmental degradation as sources of threats in the GoG.

Ezeoba said the security of the GoG should be anchored on the Yaounde declaration “within the context of extant code of conduct, protocols and memoranda of understanding of the GoG commission, ECOWAS and ECCAS’’.

According to him, “It is only logical that we also place maritime security on the top rungs of our national security priorities. “An effective maritime security regime in the GoG must be pitched on core attributes such as the elimination of sea blindness within the African continent, sincerity of purpose, strength of character and above all, the political will of all member-states and stakeholders.”

He said that member-states should also put in place “the requisite synergy for optimal utilisation of the RMACC in information and intelligence sharing, situational awareness and collaborative planning.

The Minister of State for Defence, Mrs Olusola Obada, said it had become necessary for GoG states to come together to effectively? “patrol their Exclusive Economic Zones [EEZ], territorial waters, and ports.

“The losses translate into huge opportunity cost in terms of both unrealised national revenue and untapped human potentials. “RMACC has become the sure way for Nigerians to enforce maritime governance and prevent illegal activities from occurring in her maritime domain,’’ Obada said.

She listed the security lapses in the GoG to include lack of basic maritime awareness which created ungoverned maritime environments in which terrorists and criminals freely moved and operateed.

Other lapses are “inadequate national and regional capabilities to monitor maritime surface traffic in a timely manner and lack of policies, tactics, techniques and procedures, and training on the security of the region.

Rear Adm. Joseph Aikhomu, the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Naval Command,?said the RMACC was introduced with the assistance of the U.S and UK.

He said the RMACC had “presented opportunities which, if carefully managed, will facilitate tremendous improvement in the security of the GoG’’.