Nigeria, Ghana sign MOU on piracy and terrorism

THE Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to jointly combat the menace of piracy and terrorism in the West African waterways.

Addressing newsmen in Lagos after the signing ceremony, the Director General of NIMASA, Dakuku Peterside, explained that the MOU with Ghana is based on five cardinal focus to further strengthen ties between both countries in the West African sub-region.

According to Peterside, “The MOU between NIMASA and the GMA will focus on the following areas: Knowledge transfer and sharing; Capacity building initiative; Cabotage enforcement joint study initiative; Comparative research initiative; and Joint efforts to combat piracy and terrorism.

“These are the key highlights of the MOU signed today between NIMASA and GMA. The fourth section of this MOU set out in details what we will be doing in the area of knowledge transfer and snaring, joint capacity building initiatives, cabotage enforcement joint study initiative, comparative research initiative, and anti-piracy/terrorism initiative.

“Section 5 set out the implementation strategy and action plan. Section 6 set out monitoring mechanism and coordination. Section 7 set out facilitation of movement.

Section 8 set out the financial arrangement. Section 9 set out its confidentiality and nondisclosure. Section 10 sets out dissemination of information. Section 11 sets out its press statement and section 12 sets out its notices and correspondence. These are the highlights of the MOU signed today.”

In his own speech, the Director General of the GMA, Kwame Owusi explained that Ghana is in Nigeria to learn from the wonderful steps the country has taken in her maritime sector development.

In his words, “We will like to see that if Nigeria accords 20yeasrs jail term to piracy offence, Ghana too should impose the same amount of years for the same offence. We will like to see that when people are charged particular fees in Ghana, it should be same in Nigeria.

“Our Francophone brothers sometimes make it difficult for us, but the relationship we share with Nigeria is very important to us. We have been very privileged with the relationship that we have with NIMASA.

“We are going to give Nigeria all the support we can give at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). We will not be ashamed to say that we need to learn from Nigeria. We are ready to learn and become just like Nigeria.”