Nigeria, Togo to collaborate on piracy, oil theft

Nigeria and Republic of Togo are collaborating to check the incidences of maritime crimes including piracy and oil thefts in the West Africa sub-region.

The Togolese President, Faure Essozinma Gnassingbe, disclosed this to State House correspondents on Thursday after holding talks with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Stressing that security is a big issue in t

he sub-region, the Togolese leader said he was in Abuja to officially invite President Buhari for a summit on maritime security and development that would be hosted in Togo in November.

Gnassingbe said his coming is also to congratulate the President on his victory at the elections and to condole with him on the loss of lives due to terrorism.

He said: “I am also here to commend the President and the Nigerian security forces for the work they are doing to combat terrorism in West Africa.

“What we are doing here to fight terrorism in Nigeria is to promote security in the African continent. Security is a big issue within our sub region, we saw what happened in Mali and all the recent conflict in our region in the last 10 or 20 years. We pray that God will help Nigeria overcome.

“I am also here to inform the President that Togo is hosting a summit on maritime security and development in November. That summit will deal with issues of piracy and we know that one of the problems of Nigeria is the theft of oil through the sea, the summit will also deal with illicit trafficking in the sea, like drug trafficking, human trafficking and also deal with the issues of pollution of our water. Toxic things are poured in the water killing the ecosystem in our African seas.”