Dr. Osei Bonsu Dickson, Director of Policy and Chairman of the Joint Ministerial Committee on National Integrated Maritime Strategy (NIMS), has urged the government to critically examine the growth of Ghana’s blue economy.
He announced this as a precautionary step to strengthen the nation’s defence of its territorial seas, at the NIMS launching in Accra, Ghana. In his statement, this move can have a positive effect on the nation’s development.
The NIMS Chief expressed his optimism that Ghana’s comprehensive concentration on the blue economy would go a long way towards long-lasting economic leverage as the country attempts to address its economic difficulties.
The “blue economy” is connected to economic activities connected to the seas. Maritime shipping, fishing, aquaculture, coastal tourism, renewable energy, water desalination, underwater cabling, seabed extractive industries and deep sea mining, marine genetic resources, and biotechnology are some of the activities that are popularly believed to form the blue economy.
Globally, the blue economy is thought to be worth more than $1.5 trillion annually. More than three billion people receive a crucial source of protein from it, and it generates over 30 million employment.
Dr. Dickson contends that the majority of industrialised nations’ high rates of economic growth are the outcome of their intense focus on the growth of the numerous blue economies. He further voiced concern about the sheer number of people who have made Ghana’s beaches their preferred locations for open defecation and other wastes.
If we adopt a mentality of fostering the blue economy, Ghana may “swim in a pool of money,” said Dr. Dickson.
The event’s honorary guest, President of Ghana Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, stated that safeguarding Ghana’s territorial waters is essential owing to their significance for the country’s economy, environment, and security.
He claimed that in order to defend Ghana’s territorial waters, as well as its economic and security interests, against the marine dangers in the Gulf of Guinea, the nation needs a Navy. He added that the nation has begun supplying the Navy with drones, coastal radars, real-time surveillance, and tracking protocols to increase its physical presence at sea.
“The government will continue supporting the Maritime Authority, Ports and Harbors Authority, the fisheries sector, the oil and gas sector, and the entire maritime industry with policies, equipment, training, and resources as part of maritime security capacity building to protect and develop the blue economy,” said the president.
Nana Akufo-Addo claimed that in order to accomplish that, the government has recognised the need for a well-resourced and technologically proficient Navy, promising a fleet of patrol boats.
He stated that the government will keep up its programme of building naval infrastructure in order to speed up the Navy’s marine reaction time. He affirmed that the construction of naval infrastructure is proceeding as planned.
Source: Theafricandream.co
Oral Ofori is Founder and Publisher at www.TheAfricanDream.net, a digital storyteller and producer, and also an information and research consultant.
