Central and eastern naval commands have flagged off a joint sea exercise to tackle piracy, oil theft and other illicit activities in the country’s maritime space.
According to the Flag Officer Commanding, Central Naval Command, Rear Admiral Umar Chugali, the exercise was in line with the Navy’s mandate to secure the maritime environment.
Addressing newsmen before the four-day exercise in the sea at Federal Ocean Terminal (FOT), Onne, Rivers State, yesterday, Chugali said the maritime environment had been inundated with maritime threat, expressing the Navy’s determination to ensure the maritime environment remains safe.
He stated: “Similar exercise was conducted two years ago, and this is another one for this year. So, we are deploying our assets to ensure that piracy, crude oil theft and other illicit activities in the Nigerian maritime space, offshore and inland, are curtailed.
“We have 10 ships to participate in the exercise, air cover provided by two helicopters and over 500 boats in the inland waterways to ensure that everything is safe. The exercise is going to take four days in the sea, exercising and demonstrating the capacity of the Navy in the sea to ensure that the maritime space in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea is safe at all times.”
While noting that the security challenge in the maritime environment is becoming dynamic and complex, he assured that “the Navy is embracing new strategies” to tackle the issues.
“So, with the emergence of complexities of security challenges in the maritime environment, we are also evolving our strategies to ensure that they are reduced to the barest minimum.”
Also, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Naval Command, Rear Admiral Olusola Oluwagbire, said collaboration yields greater results, adding that the command polices itself to discipline errant officers, who sabotage their efforts.
