Lagos, 9 April 2022 (TDI): The Western Naval Command (WNC) of the Nigerian Navy held its first-ever joint event “Enhancing Nigeria-EU Maritime Security Cooperation”. This is a crucial milestone for bilateral maritime security cooperation.
The Executive Director, Marine and Operations of Nigerian Ports Authority, Onari Brown met with the EU Senior Coordinator for Maritime, Gulf of Guinea, Nicolas Berlanga, A delegation was also present in the meeting. The reason for the meeting was to strengthen the cooperation with local authorities. During the meeting, they discussed port security and safety through the WeCAPS project of the EU.
Before the practical event, to coordinate macro policies, on April 6th, the Foreign Minister of Nigeria, Geoffrey Onyeama had a meeting with Nicolas Berlanga, and Ambassadors of some EU member states to discuss the development of Nigeria-EU cooperation on maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea.
BACKGROUND OF THE EU WeCAPS PROJECT
WeCAPS is a project that the European Union organized; to improve port security in West and Central Africa from 2019 to 2022. From the perspective of the policy system, WeCAPS is a part of the Critical Maritime Routes (CMR) program. CMR is a macro and global joint action to create trans-regional synergies; increase maritime security and safety of critical maritime routes.
The focus of the current actions of the CMR is on two main regions; which are the Indian Ocean (including Southeast Asia) and West Africa (Gulf of Guinea). The overall mission of CMR is to build capacity at the regional level by providing legal aid, and training. Included in the mission is to strengthen information exchange and cooperation at the national level. To achieve the above goals; interventions implemented by CMR members and partners focus on the Coast Guard and/or other maritime authorities. The cooperation is with the authorities of selected countries and the enforcement of maritime law.
Moreover, WeCAPS is the latest project that the CMR launched. Activities under the umbrella of WeCAPS can also be roughly divided into five categories. The first ones are port governance and improvement of security mechanisms in port operations. The last ones are the establishment of public-private partnerships, work related to port sustainability, and civil protections.
THE PAST AND FUTURE OF NIGERIAN-EU MARITIME COOPERATION
In recent years, Nigeria and the European Union have been working hard on promoting the partnership. Both promote the partnership through enhancing operational cooperation, joint exercises, training, capacity building, and information sharing.
According to a report by the International Maritime Bureau in February 2022; the number of cases linked with maritime crime, particularly piracy and armed robbery at sea has decreased across the region. The phenomenon clearly shows the significance of regional and international cooperation.
For this time; the European Union is set to donate 30 boats and other forensic equipment costing about 5.4 million Euros to ECOWAS. The donation was under West Africa’s integrated maritime security project, to aid its fight against maritime insecurity. Furthermore, Nigeria and the EU will deepen their maritime security cooperation on a diversified level. Those efforts will count on support from both policy coordination and military coordination.
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