The Ghana Navy is going to take delivery of four new fighter vessels known as flex-fighter boats to significantly enhance its capacity to protect the country’s territorial sea and safeguard the nation’s offshore oil and gas installations.
The well-equipped new fighter vessels are expected to arrive in the country, this coming Saturday, December 8, 2022.
Mr. Egbert Faibille, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Petroleum Commission, who broke the news said the fighter vessels are fitted with all vital logistics needed to protect national assets – offshore oil and gas installations and to tackle any “threat actors” pirates.
The acquisition of the flex-fighter boats is part of the government’s programme of adequately equipping the Ghana Navy to protect the country’s maritime space and deal with the threat of piracy, illegal fishing, smuggling and other criminal activities.
This is important considering the fact the Gulf of Guinea, remains a piracy hotspot.
According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) the Gulf of Guinea accounted for 43 percent of all reported piracy in the first quarter of last year – 2021.
Mr. Egbert Faibille said the fighter vessels are going to be operated by naval captains with international ratings.
These are going to make Ghana’s territorial sea safer. The Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum Commission was speaking during an engagement with members of the Western Regional House of Chiefs in Sekondi.
The goal was to fill them in on developments in the petroleum industry – upstream sector, offshore petroleum security issues, safety of the environment, social investment and community relations among others.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum Commission told the chiefs about the interactions that the commission is having with the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council (GNCFC) to ensure harmony between the fishing communities and the oil and gas industry.
Nana Kobina Nketsia V, the Omanhene of Essikado, applauded the commission for its efforts at ensuring that the country benefited from its natural resources – oil and gas fields.
Content created and supplied by: KyeretwienanaOseiBonsu (via Opera
News )