Buhari To Open Nigeria, Gulf Of Guinea Conference

President Muhammadu Buhari, will on Friday, April 28, 2023, declare open a national conference on organised crime in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea, which will hold in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

The conference is organised by the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) in partnership with the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) and the Resilience Fund, Austria.

Buhari will also, during the visit to Rivers State, flag-off the construction of Centre of Excellence and a-100 Bed Specialist Hospital among other projects of Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) in Ogoniland.

YEAC-Nigeria executive director, Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt yesterday, said the event will also see to the official launching of the “Network on Organized Crime in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea (NOCINAG).”

Fyneface stated that NOCINAG is a regional platform that contributes to the fight against organised crime in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea thus making Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe, being the gulf countries of focus to be more proactive and not just reactive in the fight against transnational organised crimes.

The statement reads in part: “The conference is imperative to Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea as it brings together critical national and international multi-stakeholders from the security circle, government agencies, oil companies, policymakers, university circles, members of diplomatic community, the organized private sector, the media, civil society organisations and host communities among others to brainstorm on strategic ways of collaborating, supporting and working with governments and security formations in tackling organised crime in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea for safer societies.

“Some of the critical stakeholders also invited to the conference include Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike; Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor; Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Farouk Yahaya; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo; Commandant General of NSCDC, Dr. Ahmed Audi; Coordinator of Presidential Amnesty Programme, Major-General Barry Ndiomu, Rtd., the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama.

“Others include National Security Adviser, HYPREP Project Coordinator, Comptroller General of Customs, Director General of NAPTIP, Managing Directors of indigenous/multinational oil companies (SPDC, NOAC/Eni, Halliburton, NLNG, Total E&E Ltd, etc.), Heads of NOA, NDLEA, NDDC, EFCC, NCDMB, DSS, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Correctional Service, NNPC Ltd, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Petroleum Resources, ECOWAS, Gulf of Guinea Commission, etc.