President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday called for urgent collective action against the dangers and threats affecting maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea Region.
He made the call Thursday in Abuja at a virtual meeting of the Heads of State and Government of member-states of the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC) convened to review progress on efforts to deal with the maritime challenges in the region.
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He appealed to member-states of the commission to remit their outstanding annual assessed contributions to the secretariat, saying that continued non-payment by the majority had affected the ability of the commission to fulfil the mandate for which it was established in 2001.
He said the inability of member-states to pay their assessment was threatening the continued existence of the commission.
He said Nigeria considered the effective functioning of the GGC as strategic to the collective security interest in the Gulf region, particularly in addressing issues such as piracy, proliferation of small arms and light weapons, protection of marine resources and irregular migration to the region.
He said Nigeria would continue to deploy significant resources towards tackling piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.
“It is therefore imperative that the GGC adopts a collaborative strategy to engage partners and donors in creating awareness on the objectives of the organization, with a view to synergizing for more effective results towards fighting maritime insecurity in the GGC region.
“What we need now is to work more than ever towards the revitalization of the organization by holding regular meetings and Summits of the Commission.”
Buhari expressed his gratitude to fellow Heads of State for the support from all member-states during his tenure as chairman of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the GGC.
President Nana Akuffo-Ado of Ghana emerged as new president at the end of the summit.
