In a bid to curb maritime crimes at sea, particularly around the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) waters, the Nigerian Navy (NN) and its Brazil counterpart on Thursday meet to strengthened its partnership.

This partnership was strengthened following a courtesy visit call of the
Brazilian Ambassador Francisco Carlos Soares Luz, in company of Navy Captain Andre Martin Pereira Commander Task Force and Commander Andre Felipe Rosa Franca de Carvalho, Commanding Officer Brazilian Navy Ship INDEPENDENCIA has arrived Nigeria for maritime interdiction mission code named ‘ GUNEX’ in the Gulf of Guinea.

Speaking with Newsmen on Thursday, the Ambassador of Brazil in Nigeria, H. E. Ricardo Guerra de Araújo represented by the Consulate General of Brazil in Lagos, Francisco Carlos Soares Luz said, the presence of 42-years-old vessel, Independencia in Nigeria is to engage Nigerian Navy in a joint operation between Guinea, Cameroon, Cape Verde, to fight piracy in the Gulf of Guinea and other international crime.

According to Carlos “fighting pirate in the gulf of guinea is very important because at the end, the activities of piracy will raise the cost of products for everyone especially the landlock countries”

“They will have to pay more for those things. Brazil and Nigeria share the Atlantic ocean as a boarder. so having our boarder safe is important for everyone and I think no cost is too expensive to keep the Atlantic ocean safe”

He further stated that it is the first operation with the countries and he hope it would not be the last because of the large economies of Nigeria and Brazil.

“This kind of operations is what we should do often. It will bring our countries together and our relationship has shown the reality in Nigeria and Brazil Navies that we have so much in common and we must ensure that we make the relationship the same.”

Speaking on the collaboration between the Navies, the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral, Jason Gbasa, represented by the Chief Staff Officer, Habila Zakaria, the visit is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations between Nigeria and Brazil as well as enhancing maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea.

“The Nigerian Navy has been receiving several ships of this kind from international countries. The visit of the Brazilian ship to Nigeria is one of those things that the Nigerian has always desired to have Navies from other countries to visit us and participate in exercises together that would ensure maritime Security within our waters and by extension within the gulf of guinea,” he said.

He added that the Gulf of Guinea is an area of interest for the Nigerian Navy and if maritime illegalities within these waters is allowed it would have a ripple effect on cost of items within the landlock countries and Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the Brazilian Navy played a novelty football match with the Nigerian Navy at the National Stadium, Surulere Lagos which ended by 2 goals while Brazilian Navies scores 1, while plaque was presented to the Amb. Ricardo and the Taskforce commanding, Martins Andre.