‘Nigeria’s waters now secured for local, intl. trade’ – Navy chief

The Nigerian Navy says it has successfully secured the country’s territorial waters for local and international merchant ships to transport goods and services without fear of criminal attacks.

Chief of Training and Operations, Nigeria Navy, Rear Adm. Zakariyya Muhammad, gave this indication to newsmen in Onne, Rivers, at the end of a four-day naval expedition, codenamed: “Exercise Nchekwa Oshimiri 2023”.

The 4-day exercise, tagged: ‘Chief of the Naval Staff 2023 Annual Sea Inspection’, featured 13 warships, 88 patrol boats, two helicopters and 4,000 personnel.

Muhammad said the Navy was able to fully secure the nation’s maritime environment with enhanced presence of its patrol boats and warships at sea.

“Our enhanced presence at sea had restored the confidence of merchant ships and other maritime stakeholders in conducting legitimate activities. This four-day exercise afforded us the opportunity to maintain presence at sea; enhance our maritime security – leading to interrogation of several ships and arrest of one.

“’Exercise Nchekwa Oshimiri’ has enhanced the training of personnel onboard our ships for better performance in delivering our constitutional mandate of securing Nigeria’s maritime domain”, he said.

Muhammad said that Nigeria’s maritime environment and economic zone were now secured which has impacted positively in security of the Gulf of Guinea (GoG).

Speaking, Commanding Officer, Nigeria Navy Ship (NNS) Kada, Navy Capt. Tony Archibong, said the exercise was an enormous success.

According to him, ‘Exercise Nchekwa Oshimiri’ was part of actionable steps taken to end oil theft, sea robbery, sea piracy and illegal unreported and unregulated fishing, among others, in Nigeria’s waters.

He added that the exercise was used to improve operational capability of Navy’s fleets and stimulate real-time operational scenarios.

“The exercise is used to build confidence in our security architecture aimed to secure the maritime environment for mariners to continue to carry out their trade and economic activities. Therefore, this will benefit both the Nigerian people and other maritime stakeholders using our waters”, he said.

The Navy also conducted activities like anti-bunkering operation, fleet manoeuvring, gun exercises and replenishment (refuelling of warship from another) among others.

Related news

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.