A photograph released on 23 December 2024 shows the Ghana Navy's GNS Achimota (P 46) before it was repainted grey and still had the IMO number of Japanese Fisheries Agency patrol vessel Aratsu. (Ghana Navy)
Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo commissioned Forward Operating Base (FOB) Ezinlibo in the Western Region on 23 December.
“This strategically located base will enhance the navy's capacity to combat piracy, illegal fishing, and other security threats in the Gulf of Guinea,” he said in a statement. The Ghana Armed Forces reported two days later that the new naval base can accommodate more than 1,000 personnel.
The event was held five years after the president inaugurated work on the new base, which is close to the border with CĂ´te d'Ivoire, making it ideally located for protecting Ghana's offshore oilfields.
Akufo-Addo also visited Sekondi Naval Base on the same day to commission a new naval vessel called GNS Achimota (P 46), which he described as the largest ship built in Ghana.
However, the Ghana Navy clarified that its new ship, while its largest at 65 m, was acquired from Japan and arrived on 21 December, having completed the service's longest voyage. It released a photograph showing the vessel before it was repainted grey and had the International Maritime Organization (IMO) number of Japanese Fisheries Agency patrol vessel Aratsu . It said Achimota would be used for fisheries protection and training.
For more information, please see Ghana starts work on western naval base.
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