The Gulf of Guinea stands as one of the most important economic corridors in the world given its abundance of natural and mineral resources, including oil and gas, and its status as a major maritime corridor for trade.
Its significance extends beyond regional economies, but also other parts of the world; underlining the need for cooperation among nations that trades with Africa to ensure the area is safe and secure from all forms of criminal threat and activity.
This explains the active role that the European Union is playing to support the Navies in the Gulf, through the EU Strategy and Action Plan for the Gulf of Guinea to address transnational crime, as well as the development of the Yaoundé Architecture Regional Information System (YARIS) maritime surveillance software.
Similarly, it also explains the support by the Peoples’ Republic of China following its host of the second edition of the Gulf of Guinea Security Situation Seminar, a gathering of Naval Heads and the Inter-regional Coordination Center in December 2024, with the theme: “Maritime Security Situation and Cooperation in the Gulf of Guinea.”
With Nigeria being the biggest economy and most formidable military in the Gulf of Guinea, it is not surprising that the country plays a leading role when it comes to the maintenance of peace and security through the direct interventions of the Nigerian Navy, as well as through mobilising and supporting regional and multinational cooperation.
The Nigerian Navy, under leadership of Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla, has been instrumental in this endeavour. In November 2024, the Navy hosted the 8th Symposium of Heads of Navies and Coastguards, a premier forum for addressing maritime security in the region.
With its theme as: “Maritime Security and Sustainable Development in the Gulf of Guinea”, the gathering focused its discourse on the peace and security in Gulf of Guinea and West Africa. The symposium had about 200 delegates from various Gulf of Guinea countries, as well from regional institutions, European countries and the United States.
Continental Impact and Strategic Partnerships
As the big brother in the area and Africa, Nigeria has also led the push for the establishment of a Combined Maritime Task Force for the Gulf of Guinea, and has expressed its desire and readiness to support by hosting the headquarters of the Task Force in Lagos, a position affirmed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the 38th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in February this year.
Under the leadership of Vice Admiral Ogalla, the Nigerian Navy is resolute in its ambitions for continental impact, asserting its credentials and capacity well beyond the Gulf of Guinea.
It is in line with this that the Federal Government in February this year, signed an agreement with the African Union to provide Strategic Sea Lift Services for African peacekeeping and support operations, humanitarian efforts, natural disaster assistance, and the movement of military personnel and materiel.
According to the terms of that agreement, the Nigerian Navy will make a vessel available to fulfill these services on a cost-recovery basis. On this premise, Vice Admiral Ogalla engaged in bilateral talks with naval leaders from Italy and the United States, demonstrating the Navy’s commitment to fostering strategic relationships.
Vice Admiral Ogalla is indeed an unrelentingly vocal advocate of Nigeria’s central role in maintaining the Gulf of Guinea as a stable, secure and business-friendly maritime environment.
It is noteworthy that Nigeria was taken off the global list of piracy-prone countries in March 2022, and Vice Admiral Ogalla has diligently maintained this status since he assumed office in June 2023, in part through the careful nurturing of bilateral and multilateral security and defence relationships.
Proof of this commitment to relationship-building abounds, looking at the Naval Chief’s various bilateral engagements in this outgoing first quarter of 2025. In January, Vice Admiral Ogalla received courtesy visits from the Bangladeshi High Commissioner to Nigeria, His Excellency, Mr Masudur Rahman, and the new Ambassador of Denmark to Nigeria, His Excellency Jens Ole Bach Hansen. Also in January, the Indian Navy Ship (INS) TUSHIL sailed to Nigeria on a port visit.
Early this month, the Director of the French Directorate for Cooperation in Security and Defence was at the Naval Headquarters in Abuja for a courtesy visit to the Naval Chief.
During that meeting the French Navy outlined potential areas for deepening cooperation with their Nigerian counterparts. Indeed, France has been a critical partner to the Nigerian Navy, playing active roles in regional maritime exercises such as Exercise GRAND AFRICAN NEMO and Exercise CROCODILE LIFT.
His Thought Leadership
For Vice Admiral Ogalla, thought leadership is also an important aspect of leading Africa’s most dynamic Navy, and he demonstrates this by his readiness to share insights and shape narratives in the most important intellectual spaces in the country and outside.
As guest speaker for the Annual Faculty of the Social Sciences’ Distinguished Public Lecture, at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka – his alma mater – in October 2024, the Navy chief spoke on the topic: “Safeguarding Nigeria’s Blue Economy Potentials: The Role of the Nigerian Navy.”
He harped on the importance of multilateralism, positing that “multinational synergies are necessary to enhance maritime security for safeguarding the enormous potentials of the nation’s Blue Economy.”
In January this year, Vice Admiral Ogalla was at the National Defence College Abuja –Nigeria’s highest military institution for the training of senior military and police officers and high-ranking civil servants – where he delivered a lecture on “Maritime Security and National Development – The Role of the Nigerian Navy” to participants of NDC Course 33, including delegates from foreign countries.
Last year October, at the 14th Trans-Regional Seapower Symposium in Venice, Italy, the Nay boss delivered a paper titled, “Preserving the Underwater – the Secure and Sustainable Use of the Underwater” to an audience of Naval Chiefs and maritime experts from around the world.
On the sidelines of that symposium he held bilateral engagements with the Chief of the Italian Navy, and the American Chief of Naval Operations (CNO). Also in October 2024, he delivered an address on “Non-Traditional Maritime Security Challenges/Threats in the African Maritime Domain”, at the 5th Sea Power Symposium for Africa Symposium (SPAS) hosted by the South African Navy (SAN) in Cape Town.
In his words, “As someone who has dedicated a significant part of my career to safeguarding Nigeria’s maritime domain,” under his watch the Nigerian Navy has demonstrated and continue to demonstrate its readiness not only to fulfill its constitutional mandate of maritime domain security, but also to actively engage with key partners and stakeholders, and shape strategic narratives that bolster Nigeria’s military standing.
*Fadoju writes from Abuja, Nigeria*
