Webinar: Curbing maritime insecurity in Nigeria’s Niger Delta 

On 31^st March 2021, the Support to West Africa Integrated Maritime Security (SWAIMS) Project is organising a webinar: Curbing maritime insecurity in Nigeria’s Niger Delta.

As part of the Directorate for Peacekeeping and Regional Security, SWAIMS promotes maritime security in the ECOWAS region. In the Gulf of Guinea, the Niger Delta is the epicentre for piracy activities as well as the source of great natural wealth.

The webinar will examine oil theft and marine pollution; human trafficking, the socioeconomic impacts of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing on smallholders; and piracy and armed robbery at sea in the Niger Delta. Focus will be on causes and solutions.

Panellists include:

• Dr Ebinimi Joe Ansa, Researcher and Head of Department, African Regional Aquaculture Centre/Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research, Port Harcourt;
• Mr Ogbonna Okechukwu Chidi, Researcher, Network of Law Enforcement and Regulatory Agencies Researchers (NETLAWR);
• Prof Stella Williams, Researcher, Vice-President of Mundus maris asbl, and a member  of the Nigerian Association of Fish Flamers and Aquaculturists (NAFFA); and,
• Mr Nkasi Wodu, Peacebuilding Programmes Manager, Foundation for Partnerships in the Niger Delta (PIND) Abuja, Warri and Port Harcourt.

“The goal is to enhance collaboration between civil society organisations and the SWAIMS Project in the fight against maritime insecurity in West African countries and Mauritania,” revealed Barthelémy Blédé, SWAIMS’ Private Sector and Civil Society Expert. “It will help us to learn from the perspectives and perceptions of civil society organisations on maritime security, and how to engage local maritime communities in the fight,” he added.

The webinar will be jointly chaired by the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and the ECOWAS Commission’s Regional Security Division.

The ECOWAS Integrated Maritime Strategy (EIMS) lists civil society amongst the major actors singled out for priority action. EIMS emphasises a people-centric response to the management and use of the maritime domain, and supports the shift from an ‘ECOWAS of States’ to an ‘ECOWAS of people’.

This webinar is part of an ongoing SWAIMS Webinar Series which began last year as one of the means for outreach to civil society. SWAIMS is funded by the European Union.

Register for the webinar at: https://bit.ly/3tLIrpB

Links 

• ECOWAS Integrated Maritime Strategy
• SWAIMS Project
• EU Maritime Security Factsheet: The Gulf of Guinea
• EU Strategy on the Gulf of Guinea

Press Contacts: SWAIMS:  [email protected]

ECOWAS RAO SU: [email protected]