The Gulf of Guinea became a beehive of activities penultimate week as navies of the world converged on the area for a multinational naval maneuver aimed at checking piracy and armed banditry at sea.

Indeed, 21 countries, including France, United States, Germany, Nigeria, Angola, Cameroun, Ghana, Belgium, Gabon and São Tomé and Principe, Turkey, Brazil, Denmark, Netherlands, Portugal; Equatorial Guinea, Benin Republic, Cote d’ Ivoire, Gabon, Togo, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa, converge on Gulf of Guinea with 18 war ships for annual naval maneuver that would assist Nigeria and other African navies check piracy and armed banditry at sea.

Ghanaian Navy hosted the maneuver, while the United States and other world powers; particularly Germany and France initiated the exercise, pouring their sea war machines, including frigates and offshore patrol vessels (OPV) to police the area.

The vessels were drawn from Nigeria, Angola, Cameroun, Ghana, Belgium, France, Gabon, United States and Germany and São Tomé and Príncipe to participate in the multinational naval maneuver tagged OBANGAME EXPRESS.

OBANGAME EXPRESS Daily Sun learnt was a maritime exercise designed to improve cooperation among participating nations in order to increase maritime safety and security in the Gulf of Guinea.

OBANGAME EXPRESS is also a maritime interdiction exercise based on simulated scenarios of the most prevalent transnational crimes at sea. It was designed to improve cooperation among participating countries in order to increase maritime safety and security in the Gulf of Guinea. It involved operations such as visit, boarding, search and seizure techniques. It also focused on improving interoperability of communications and sharing of Maritime Domain Awareness information with a view to harnessing their collective efforts to combat crimes in the region.

The word “OBANGAME” it was gathered, comes from Camerounian Fang language and means “togetherness”. The name was selected by African participants as proof of their commitment to promoting regional cooperation among navies of the countries in the Gulf of Guinea.

Nigeria participated in OBANGAME EXPRESS for the first time in 2010 as an observer. At the 2011 Edition hosted by Cameroun, the Nigerian Navy participated fully. The Exercise was hosted by Nigeria in 2012 and 2014 to attest to the confidence repose in Nigeria by other participating nations.

Nigeria, like any other maritime nation relies on the sea for harvesting of resources, commerce and international trade. For some years, effort has been intensified to tackle the security challenges created by piracy, poaching, smuggling, oil theft, trafficking and other transnational crimes. The challenges posed by sea-based crimes are such that no single nation is capable of effectively combating them all alone.

The situation experts say, calls for synergy of efforts amongst maritime nations towards ensuring a safe and secured maritime environment. In this regard, and to further consolidate the effort towards zero oil theft and other illegality, the Nigerian Navy, the United States Government, its European partners, Gulf of Guinea nations and other maritime nations of Africa decided to come together to conduct annual multinational maritime security exercise, known as OBANGAME EXPRESS.

The 2015 edition of the exercise was divided into two scenarios, with the events in scenario one starting from the waters of Benin Republic where an oil tanker laden with petroleum products was hijacked off Cotonou.

The hijacked vessel was taken off to Togolese waters and subsequently made rendezvous with another vessel off Ghanaian waters.

According to the scenario, the products on the vessel were transferred to a second vessel off Ghanaian waters and the hijacked vessel proceeded eastward traversing through, Togolese and Benin waters before entering Nigeria.

The information on the movement of the vessel was passed to the Maritime Operating Centre (MOC) at the Western Naval Command in Lagos where Nigerian Navy Ships intercepted the hijacked vessel.

Naval operatives on board NNS OKPABANA AND THUNDER subsequently boarded the vessel and the vessel arrested and process of prosecution commenced.

Scenario two was a weapon smuggling situation, which began on day one off Lagos waters.

The exercise was simulated to include information received of a vessel engaged on illegal unreported, unregulated fishing in the vicinity of the Lagos roadstead.

The roadstead, Daily Sun learnt is a sheltered stretch of water near the shore in which ships can ride at anchor.

Getting information on the illegal activities of the fishing vessel, the Nigerian Navy Task Force, according to the scenario was then directed to intercept and board the vessel.

The Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) vessel was then boarded by the Maritime Interdiction Operatives onboard the NNS OKPABANA and THUNDER and some irregularities were observed in the vessels documentations.

Apart from the irregularities discovered on the vessel, it was also discovered when searched that the IUU vessel had contact with a vessel conveying illegal weapons to an unknown destination.

The gun running vessel according to the exercise scenario was heading eastward and having processed the information through the Maritime Operation Centre in Lagos, the Naval Task group was directed to track and intercept the vessel.

This led to a hot pursuit and the vessel eventually strayed into the Central Naval Command area of operations and a patrol vessel from Central Command took over the pursuit till the vessel also strayed into the Eastern Command areas of operation and subsequently Cameroonian waters were it was intercepted and boarded by a combined team of Nigerian Navy Special Boat Services (SBS) and the Cameroonian Rapid Intervention Battalion.

Apart from collaborating with other countries in nabbing criminals within the West African coastline, the OBANGAME EXPRESS 2015 Daily Sun learnt was geared towards ensuring that maritime stakeholders collaborate on information sharing on the activities of illegal fishing trawlers and other criminals operating within the waterways.

“The benefits of our international cooperation are undeniable. We are all interdependent upon each other to ensure the safety and security of the maritime commons,” said Pat Alsup, chargé d’affaires, US Embassy, Accra, Ghana, during the opening ceremony.

He explained that the close cooperation of the participating countries will strengthen the industries of transportation, shipping, fishing, commerce, tourism, and resource development, noting that this would eventually lead to economic growth in the West African region.

Similarly at the Closing ceremony, Ghana’s Vice President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur noted that “the maritime security challenges threaten global trade and the economies of the countries in the region and this requires collaborative effort to combat.”

Amissah-Arthur said Ghana has some examples of the impact of the collaborative efforts between local stakeholders and the sub-regional partners that confirm the value of partnership, adding that, “It is for this reason I am calling on the participating navies especially those from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Economic Community of Central African State (ECCAS) to use this exercise as a foundation to enhance their cooperation to ensure a safe maritime security environment.”

Also, Vice Adm. James Foggo, Commander, United States Navy 6th Fleet said he was confident that participating countries would be able to work together more effectively to address regional challenges.

He said: “More than that, as we have spent the last two weeks operating together, talking meaningfully with – and learning from – one another, what we have really done is improve our relationships. Now, when challenges arise, we can respond cohesively, collectively, and effectively, because we know each other, we’ve worked together, and we’ve built trust and friendships.”

The Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) of the Western Naval Command of the Nigerian Navy Rear Admiral Jonathan Ango who was also in Ghana, had earlier talked on the objective of the exercise, explaining that, “the objective is to assess the ability of the participating navies to conduct maritime operations.”

Admiral Ango said that the exercise would assist reduce maritime illegalities within the coast of West Africa and other regions within Africa.

Exercise Obangame Express, now in its fifth year, is one of four U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa-facilitated regional exercises. The exercise was part of a comprehensive strategy by US Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet and AFRICOM to provide collaborative opportunities amongst African forces and international partners that addresses maritime security concerns.

The exercise sought to leverage the Code of Conduct for West and Central Africa, which provides a regional framework for cooperation and information sharing.