Until recently, maritime piracy has never been a worry to the people of West Africa, more so when oil exploration was secluded to a few countries across the Gulf of Guinea.
In recent times however, with the new oil discoveries from Cameroon to Gambia, reports of attacks on vessels by pirates on the West African deep waters are on the ascendency and have been gradually gaining currency.
Indeed, Ghana’s Jubilee oilfield must be much of a concern to our authorities, oil and gas industry players and Ghanaians in general.
Reports have it that already close to 15 different pirate attacks have been recorded off the coast of West Africa in recent times. This phenomenon, no doubt is fueling fears among West Africans that the illicit activity of pirates could as a matter of fact threaten oil exploration and exports in our region and thereby hamper economic growth and development in the sub-region.
It is believed that activities of militants on the Niger Delta might have escalated to other potential oil wells and areas across the Gulf of Guinea including Ghana is no exception to this development.
Indeed, Skip to next paragraphas the illicit activities of pirates soars off the coast of West Africa, Ghana’s efforts at stemming the canker has been very much appreciable just to ensure greater security and stability in the West African sub-region. As a matter of fact, we must welcome government’s efforts to acquire more naval patrol vessels and vessel tracking devices to halt the unholy operations of pirates on our high seas.
It is therefore worth noting that the effort by government to equip the navy with patrol boats and other logistics to fight, especially pirates on our high seas is a laudable move and must be commended by all. But it is equally important for our authorities to train and retrain our naval officers to be abreast with the current trend of fighting pirates who use highly sophisticated machinery or weapons to elude authorities.
Of course, we are aware naval officers were given some training on the use of various maritime equipment and machinery but we will implore the officers to further arrange for external training programmes, especially with their American counterparts to acquire new techniques in order to protect our oil and gas resources as well as safeguarding Ghana’s maritime territory.
As we commend Ghanaian authorities for their yeoman’s work in equipping our navy, we must also appreciate the priceless efforts of our neighbours, particularly Nigeria, Togo and Benin for joining forces to combat the evil of piracy. In Nigeria for instance, the military have been stepping up its efforts at stalling activities of the Niger Delta militants from attacking oil vessels on high seas there.
Again, governments of Togo and Benin have also being doing well in terms of their constant naval patrols to ward off pirates, owing to recent attacks on some foreign ships. It is important therefore, for Ghana and Togo to collaborate efforts at jointly fighting pirates on the Gulf of Guinea.
