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Expectations, as Nigeria partners French Navy on marine security

Olusegun Olanrewaju

Wednesday, through Friday, February 3 and 4, 2022, a 90-man strong French naval ship visited Apapa, Lagos, on a maritime security interdiction quest.

The sub-frigate had on board the Chief of Foreign Affairs of the French Navy, Vice Admiral Christophe Lucas, and others engaged in the arduous task of seeking closer ties with the Nigerian Navy on marine safety, sea piracy, and sundry trafficking. To announce its arrival and tasking a press conference was held at the Conference Room of Nigerian Navy’s premier Western Naval Command (WNC) Headquarters.

The Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) of the Command, Rear Admiral Jason Gbassa, appealed for co-operation. Gbassa and Lucas highlighted the essence of the yearly operational visit. They called for sustained and diverse security arrangements, particularly in training, automation, oceanography, and other related assistance, through joint operations, between the navies of the host country, Nigeria.

The object, they added, is to strengthen protection in the West African hub. They also stressed the need for sustained operations to improve on the efforts at achieving ‘goals of leadership, in concert with international, foreign powers in the sub-region.

That, they further observed, could be achieved for the benefit of both countries, “through exercises between us”. According to FOC Gbassa, the NATO class patrol ship commissioned in 1982, was on an interdiction mission in the Gulf of Guinea.

He added that the boat was out to improve the capability for a safer environment for the maritime region, in active collaboration with other navies in the mercantile class.

On piracy, Rear Admiral Gbassa noted: “When you are together, you get more efficient. The presence of action has to be maintained; we have to work together to know how to get military knowledge.”

He said for nations to realize prosperity, it is beneficial to retain relationships, particularly in the ability to contain crimes and create better space for security issues.

The FOC lauded the French military delegation, recalling the gains made since the last tour, last November, by the ship, Enseigne De Vaisseau Jacoubet on the coast. Gbassa added that Nigeria is looking forward to curbing piracy at sea and sustaining collaboration with the French Navy and others for support.

Earlier, the French naval foreign affairs chief, Lucas, said his team was glad to be back in Lagos, after a successful mission to the Gulf of Guinea last year.

He said the team would collaborate with Nigeria to put in place security measures to affect security in the maritime region. According to maritime and naval experts, the ship is a “heavily-armed River Class type, but lighter than a frigate or destroyer”.

It is recorded that the interdiction ship has participated in several interdiction and patrol duties in Africa, including ‘Operation Seval’ in Mali in 2013.

That was when it escorted a Ro-Ro (Roo-on, Roll-off) vessel chartered to transport military equipment to Senegal.

Enseigne De Vaisseau Jacoubet also participated in an operation off the coast of Africa in 2014. It was a search operation for rescue work on Flight 804 in 2016 in Egypt when a plane disappeared on May 19, 2010, in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

The ship also joined the European Union (EU) on February 15, 2019, for navigation in the Mediterranean to fight trafficking in an ‘Operation Jachhammer’ that ended on May 14, after 28 days.

There have been complaints recently in the maritime circle on efforts to boost naval capacity in the Gulf of Guinea. Maritime experts say security challenges persist. They say that Meeting these will require both the involvement of local states and international support.

A writer, Hugo Decis, observes that growing local and international concerns about maritime security in West Africa, especially the Gulf of Guinea, have prompted efforts to boost regional naval capacity, including recent procurements of maritime-patrolling equipment by Angola, Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, Nigeria, and Senegal, among others.

These endeavors, he adds, have underscored the interest and engagement of international players in the region, and perhaps most notably have provided a further channel for the increasing regional involvement and influence of a foreign power like China.

According to him, navies in Sub-Saharan African countries have tended to have poor relationships in the continent’s multi-service armed forces.

“And in many ways, this remains the case. Navies still make do with limited financial and human resources, in a strategic environment dominated mostly by land threats,” they say.

They, however, add that the discovery and exploitation, in recent years of energy resources, have somewhat changed the equation.

“It is estimated that the Gulf of Guinea is now the source of 2.7 percent and 4.5 percent of the world’s reserves in gas and oil respectively.

“It has also become a focal point of piracy – including ‘petro-piracy’ – and acts of an armed robbery at sea. This inevitably affects the local populations’ ability to benefit from Africa’s growing maritime economy,” experts further note.

Meanwhile, the French Maritime Information Cooperation and Awareness Centre has been quoted to have disclosed that nearly half of the 111 incidents at sea reported in the area in 2019 took place less than 12 miles from the coast.

“This statistic appears to indicate that properly deployed and operated naval assets could better protect commercial shipping, while it sails through these seas.

“Illegal fishing and port security are also major challenges for regional states, as is the growing political focus internationally on the environmental impact of maritime activities”

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This, no doubt, underscores the visit of the French naval ship, as it heads home.

Online reports say the patrol ship, Enseigne De Vaisseau Jacoubet, was commissioned in 1982. It is de-commissioned in 2026, it was further gathered.

Nigeria and France have a lot to gain from the visit, a naval commander, who was at Thursday’s press briefing, told ThisNigeria after the exercise on Thursday at the naval base.

 

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