Accra, Dec. 2, GNA - The Minister for Defense, Lt Gen Joseph Henry Smith (retired) on Tuesday officially handed over a ship, maritime tanker African Prince, to the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Ghana Navy at the weekend intercepted the ship which had been hijacked by pirates.

The Minister, on behalf of Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed forces and President of the Republic, said both Nigeria and Ghana had experienced directly, the value of mutual collaboration providing indications about how they could improve marine security through teamwork in the Gulf of Guinea.. He stated that he was particularly proud that they had found the opportunity to demonstrate a deeper meaning for their relationship which was beyond rhetoric.

In his response, the Nigeria High Commissioner to Ghana, Mohammed Misiliu Obanikoro, expressed his gratitude to the Ministry for facilitating the release of the vessel.

He was also happy about the bravery and promptness the Ghana Armed Force (GAF) gave to the SOS call that came from the international maritim= e intelligence agency. He called for a deeper reflection of the need and how to protect the=

territorial waters of the two countries. Mr. Obanikoro noted that the sub-region was a challenging one, but with limited resource.

He therefore advised that they found a way to form a common patrol team to protect their territorial waters as well as the Gulf of Guinea. He said this maritime cooperation could reduce their dependence on foreign support for their security and also help alleviate the problems they faced.

The Nigerian Navy sent a message to the Ghana Navy on November 23 that the maritime tanker had been hijacked.

The Ghana Navy then informed the General Headquarters (Joint Operations) who requested for an air reconnaissance to locate the vessel. On November 24, an aircraft was dispatched again to support GNS Yoga= ga in search for the vessel. The joint Navy and Air force collaboration resulted in the arrest of the alleged hijacked vessel where it was later detected that the chief chef of the ship had died on November 23. The vessel was escorted to Tema anchorage and GNS Yogaga patrolled i= n the general vicinity of the tanker until she entered the harbour and bert= hed with tug boat assistance from the Ghana Port and Harbours Authority.