Nigeria has pledged to partner with 22 other African Atlantic Countries to achieve the vision of peace, stability, security and shared prosperity in the ocean’s coastal area.
Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, made the pledge in Rabat, Morocco on Friday.
Onyeama, a lead presenter at the First Ministerial Conference of African Atlantic States in Rabat, said Nigeria would establish initiatives for the full realisation of the vision.
He said; “We are going to set up the supporting framework for it.
“We are going to set up focal points, first of all in the ministry and then we will call an inter-ministerial meeting to then have a larger framework for cooperation.
“This will be done so that Nigeria’s involvement is institutionalized and made concrete in terms of cooperating and charting a roadmap with the other countries.”
African Atlantic coast is threatened by insecurity, smuggling, terrorism, transnational organised crime, maritime piracy, acute environmental challenges and their consequences on food security and human flow.
Following these issues, the Kingdom of Morocco initiated dialogue among the 23 countries along the Atlantic coast to tackle the threats and to revive the resources of the area for shared prosperity.
The countries bordering the Atlantic are Nigeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Cape Verde, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Cameroon.
Others are Sao Tome and Principe, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Namibia and South Africa.
Representatives of these countries have expressed their full support for the collaboration among the African Atlantic States, to capitalise on mutually beneficial opportunities and tackle challenges on the coast.
NAN/Mercy Chukwudiebere
