No fewer than eight elite Nigerian Navy warships have departed the shores of the country’s waters to join in a global joint naval operation aimed at combating sea piracy in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG).
Africa Today News, New York reports that Nigeria’s Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Adm. Emmanual Ogalla, made this known to journalists yesterday during the flag-off of exercise ‘Obangame Express 2024,’ in Onne, Rivers.
Represented by Rear Adm. Olusegun Ferreira, the navy’s Chief of Training and Operations, Ogalla stated that eight warships, two helicopters, and the naval Special Boat Service (special forces) would participate in the week-long exercise.
“Obangame Express, sponsored by the United States African Command (US Africom), brings together naval fleets from the GoG and key partners from Europe, the Spanish navy, and North America to secure the region.
“It offers a platform for like-minded partners to jointly devise African-led solutions to transnational threats and challenges for enhancing regional security.
“The maritime security operations will encompass anti-crude oil, anti-sea piracy, anti-sea robbery, anti-fishing, as well as boarding and aerial operations, among other activities,” he said.
In another report, the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) and the Nigeria Customs Service have reached an agreement to strengthen their collaboration to develop new anti-piracy strategies to encourage creativity and boost the country’s creative economy,
A statement which was made available to Africa Today News, New York disclosed that the agreement was reached during a courtesy visit by the Director-General, NCC Dr John Asein, to the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, at the NCS Headquarters recently.
The leaders of both agencies stressed throughout the visit the strategic significance of intellectual property, especially copyright, to the nation’s development and the destruction wrought by copyright pirates’ actions in the industry.
Motivated by this, they expressed their commitment to introduce ICT-driven proactive measures and enhance their operations through training and intelligence to check copyright piracy and other illicit activities in the copyright sector.