Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding, with the heads of the Navies of the Republics of Benin, Togo and the Higher Commander of the Gendarmerie of Niger Republic for the implementation of Joint patrol of the Maritime Zone “E”.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed during the meeting of the Chiefs of the Naval Staff of the ECOWAS Zone E and Higher Commander of the Gendarmerie of Niger at HQ of Multinational Maritime Coordinating Centre, Cotonou, Benin Republic.

Navy Director of Information, Commodore Ayo Olugbode, said the Memorandum was to revisit amongst others, the twenty-eleven and twenty-twelve Resolutions of the United Nations Security Council on the suppression of acts of piracy attacks against shipping and other illegalities at Sea.

Olugbode said the 8 page-document which was divided into eleven Articles, established cooperation for Joint Maritime Patrol through the pooling together of both material and human resources to enhance the security of the maritime area of the ECOWAS Zone E countries, consisting of Benin, Niger, Nigeria and Togo,” .

He said the Maritime area of ECOWAS Zone E which consists of international and territorial waters under the respective jurisdiction of the states of Benin, Nigeria and Togo is coordinated by the Multinational Maritime Coordinating Centre in Cotonou, Benin Republic.

The Director of Information said the agreement was in furtherance of the vision of Heads of Government of the Zone E countries to secure their common sea area for the blue economy to thrive.