Kumasi, Oct. 24, GNA - Tullow Ghana Limited (TGL) and the Ghana Navy will collaborate to promote the appropriate maritime environment conducive to the peaceful and profitable development of Ghana's petrochemical endowment.

Mr. Tony Dzokoto, Head of Tullow Ghana, Legal Department, said Ghana Navy's maintenance of an ambience of maritime peace in the past, should be viewed by Ghanaians as a key stimulus to the country's success in exploration, discovery and the development of oil. He made this known in Kumasi at the weekend, when he delivered a goodwill message on behalf of the company, at a public sensitisation lecture as part of activities marking the Ghana Navy's 50th anniversary. Tullow was the sole sponsor of the lecture delivered by Naval Captain Francis Kwesi Eshun.

Mr. Dzokoto asked: "How much offshore exploration and discoveries could we have had in Ghana if our maritime environment was characterised by widespread.insecurity or an embattled coastline?" He urged Ghanaians to appreciate the strategic importance of the national navy as a maritime security institution.

Mr. Dzokoto described the Ghana Navy as one of Tullow's most valued partners in the company's development operations and said the corporate entity looked beyond the Navy's traditionally mandated business of protecting the country's territorial integrity and respects its invaluable contributions to peaceful socio-economic activities like fisheries, maritime policing and general maritime safety and security. With the aid of projected visuals, Captain Eshun took the audience of the Great Hall of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, mostly students and men of the naval cadet corps of the university and Opoku Ware Senior High School through the evolution of the Ghana Navy from its establishment by Ghana's first President, the late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, through its various roles as a maritime security institution, to contemporary maritime security and challenges.

The lecture also focused on the urgent need to enhance the Navy's capacity and capabilities as well as the possible areas of collaboration with stakeholders in Ghana's emerging oil industry. Speaking on the theme: "Ghana Navy at 50: Enhancing Maritime Security for Socio Economic Development," Naval Captain Eshun elaborated the dwindling fortunes of the Ghana Navy in terms of its fleet and logistical standing.

He said despite the serious handicap the Navy had for the past two decades, dutifully and magically performed its constitutional duties, including international peace support operations, to the admiration of many in the maritime industry. The naval captain said the discovery of oil in Ghana had introduced far more complex responsibilities and challenges for the Ghana Navy, among which, he said were the need to deal with the threat of criminal activities like illegal bunkering and stealing of oil, accidents at sea and negative activities such as environmental pollution, hijacking, armed robbery at sea, fires on ships and on oil rigs and the need to control interference by fishermen with drilling activities. Captain Eshun said one other good thing about the discovery of oil in Ghana had been the sudden realization by policy makers and the general population that the Navy was important and therefore need to be adequately equipped and motivated.

He said the Navy was happy that eventually, some practical efforts were being made to expand its fleet of vessels and the development of some of its abandoned naval infrastructure such as the Slipway and Test Bench projects located at the Sekondi Naval Base.

In order to boost the Ghana Navy's capability to address maritime security concerns, Captain Eshun recommended the immediate establishment of a maritime security master-plan, which would entail the establishment of a well structured financial fund, under the auspices of the Presidency into which all commercial operators should make some contributions. Mr. Kofi Opoku-Manu, Ashanti Regional Minister, who was special guest at the lecture, said it was time Ghanaians realized that the actual worth of any military force like the Navy was not necessarily the value of its physical production levels, but rather the huge cost to the nation if such a force did not exist. 24 Oct. 09