What Is Exercise Grand Afican Nemo 2021?
The Exercise Grand African Nemo 2021 is an operational cooperation of regional maritime exercise initiated and coordinated by the French NAVY and designed to bolster maritime security along the African waterways in the Gulf of Guinea.
What Are The Aims Of Exercise Grand African Nemo 2021?
The aims of the African Grand Nemo 2021 (Navy’s Exercise for Maritime Operations) exercise includes but are not limited to making sure that regional navies have freedom of navigation along the waterways and the Gulf of Guinea and enabling regional navies to better fight against maritime insecurity like; illegal hunkering of oil, human trafficking, piracy, drugs and weapons trafficking, sea robbery and illegal fishing.
Takeaways From The 2020 Edition Of Exercise Grand African Nemo.
14 nations took part in the 2020 edition of the French-led exercise Grand African Navy’s Exercise for Maritime Operations (NEMO). Over 30 warships and aircrafts were deployed during the exercise.
The countries that participated in the 2020 edition of the Exercise Grand African NEMO were; France, the United States of America, Nigeria, Gambia, Guinea, Senegal, Brazil, Togo, Liberia, Benin, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Italy. The exercise included drills on how to combat piracy at sea, drug and human trafficking, illegal fishing as well as conducting search and rescue operations.
The Nigerian Navy’s Participation In The Exercise.
The Exercise Grand African Nemo 2021 was flagged off on the 4th of November at the Naval Jetty, Onne in Rivers State.
It would be recalled that the 2020 edition of Exercise Grand African Nemo saw the Nigerian Navy deploy four (4) warships and one (1) helicopter. The number seem to have grown this year with the Nigerian Navy deploying thirteen (13) Warships, two (2) helicopters, one (1) maritime patrol aircrafts and two (2) special mission airplanes from 3 Nigerian Navy operational commands.
Read more about the Nigerian Navy’s participation in the Exercise Grand African Nemo 2021 here.
The Nigerian Navy also sent troops of Special Boat Service (SBS) and Maritime to partake in the exercise that also include the Royal Navy and the French Navy.
The Exercise Grand African Nemo 2021 has indeed come at the right time for the Nigerian Navy who currently have their hands full with activities of criminals along the Nigerian waterways. This include illegal criminal activities like; oil bunkering, arms proliferation, destruction of oil installations, sea piracy as well as robbery and kidnapping among other things. This exercise will further boost the Nigerian Navy coordination in the fight against the aforementioned maritime insecurity issues.
The exercise will not only help combart maritime insecurity along the Nigerian waterways and in the gulf of Guinea, it will also help in improving regional Maritime Operations Centers in sharing real time information and capacity building.
How it all began.
The Grand African Nemo was established in the 2013 Younde summit in Cameroon when 11 African countries in the Gulf of Guinea (a Maritime area located in West Africa) pledged to support each other by collaborating to strengthen regional maritime security operations. These countries includes; Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe Angola and Congo.
According to 2019 report by The Vanguard Nigeria, “two key resolutions of the declaration were the creation of an Inter- Regional Coordination Centre on Maritime Safety and Security for West and Central Africa to be headquartered in Yaoundé Cameroun. The second resolution was the implementation of a new Code of Conduct on the prevention and repression of piracy, armed robbery against ships and illegal maritime activities in West and Central Africa. The Declaration has been operationalized since the signing of the agreement by Heads of States and Governments of member countries in the same year.”
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