Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas has charged the Senate Committee on the Navy to continue to support the quest to reposition the Service for a more effective discharge of its constitutional responsibilities.
Speaking during the 2021 budget defence at the National Assembly today, Vice Admiral Ibas stressed that currently, and for the foreseeable future, hydrocarbons whose exploration and exploitation fall largely within the Nigeria Navy’s operational domain, remain the nation’s economic centre of gravity, and by extension a crucial component for the economic viability and prosperity of the country.
This, according to the CNS, makes the Nigerian Navy (NN) a vital driver, guardian and enabler for Nigeria’s economic aspiration and as such, due appropriation of the capital budget of the Service is highly necessary bearing in mind its increasing operational commitments.
Vice Admiral Ibas further stated that the NN has recorded several achievements from July 2015 to date in the performance of her statutory roles.
These achievements include contributions to national economic development, improved maritime security and maritime law enforcement, among others. He further revealed that the response initiatives employed by the Nigerian Navy to maritime operations is patterned along a Trinity of Actions encompassing surveillance, response capacity and law enforcement which ensures that the Navy conducts a round the clock surveillance of Nigeria’s maritime space using its Maritime Domain Awareness infrastructure, in addition to the use of surface vessels and helicopters.
Vice Admiral Ibas added that in order to ensure adequate response capacity to tackle piracy and sea robbery as well as illegal refining and other threats to peaceful use of the maritime environment, the Navy instituted dedicated operations and initiatives such as Operation TSARE TEKU and Operation RIVER SWEEP amongst others. These response initiatives ensure that perpetrators of infractions within the maritime domain are promptly apprehended for trial.
Vice Admiral Ibas also posited that as the lead agency in the coordination of enforcement activities in the maritime environment, the Nigerian Navy has developed an efficient operational synergy with other maritime security agencies and stakeholders through interagency collaboration. Furthermore, considering the transnational and migratory nature of maritime crimes, the CNS affirmed that the NN also collaborates with regional navies to boost maritime law enforcement across national maritime boundaries.
Vice Admiral Ibas while further highlighting some of the achievements of the Nigerian Navy in recent times submitted that the Nigerian Navy has expanded its sphere of influence in response to rising security challenges by establishing new bases across the country as well as entering into bilateral and multilateral relations with countries in the West African sub-region.
Specifically, regional maritime security initiatives like the deployment of NN personnel to the Multi-National Maritime Coordination Centre in Benin Republic is being sustained.
Additionally, plans are at an advanced stage to operationalize the Nigeria-Equatorial Guinea Combined Maritime Policing and Security Patrol Committee for security of the joint maritime borders of the 2 countries. Other international commitments of the NN as pointed by the CNS include the deployment of personnel to the African Union Headquarters Addis Ababa as well as various staff officers to 9 peace support missions under the auspices of the United Nations, ECOWAS and AU.
He also disclosed that commitments on the domestic scene include various joint operations with sister Services such as OPERATION LAFIYA DOLE, OPERATION AWATSE, OPERATION DELTA SAFE, OPERATIONAL WHIRL STROKE, OPERATION WHIRL PUNCH and OPERATION SAFE HAVEN while sustaining the vital single Service operations such as OPERATION RIVER SWEEP, OPERATION TSARE TEKU as well as the Choke Point Control Regime.
