Nigerian Navy (NN) has said it does not have enough vessels to patrol the over 84,000 square miles waters of Nigeria despite fleet recapitalisation under President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo stated this yesterday when he briefed journalists on the NN Presidential Fleet Review (PFR) 2023, Lagos, with the theme: “Fleet Readiness for National Prosperity” scheduled to hold from Friday, May 19 to Monday, May 22, 2023 in Lagos.
The CNS who was represented by the Chief of Policy and Plans, Rear Admiral Saidu Suleiman Garba said a total of 20 capital ships were procured for the Nigerian Navy under the eight years tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said the ships comprise offshore patrol vessels, landing ship transport, hydrographic survey vessels, seaward defence boats, helicopters, as well as, over 300 inshore patrol vessels and assault crafts.
He added that the president also commissioned two locally built ships in 2016 and 2021, and laid the keel for two more, which will be ready by 2024.
Gambo said the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari marked a period of profound transformation of the NN Fleet.
“The president demonstrated enormous political will in ensuring the recapitalisation of the NN Fleet which has become the pride of the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) and one of the most versatile naval fleets in Africa. It has therefore become expedient to organize the PFR-2023 in celebration of Mr President for his commitment to strengthen the nation’s naval assets and capability to project her instruments of maritime power for national prosperity,” he said.
He said the “PFR 2023 is therefore organised in honour of president Muhammadu Buhari, in recognition of his generous contribution to the service and the nation at large. It is also designed to mark the culmination of Mr President’s tenure.”
Reeling out the activities lined up for the event, he said, “ The press briefing kick starts the event. The next event is the ice breaker which is slated for Friday, May 19, 2023 from 5pm to 7pm at the swimming pool in Victoria Island, Lagos. On Saturday, May 20, 2023, there are three activities namely; maritime discourse at the Admiralty Conference Centre, Naval Dockyard Limited, Victoria Island, Lagos from 10am – 2 pm; the beach fair to be hosted by the Naval Officers’ Wives Association at the Landmark Beach, Victoria Island, Lagos by 12 noon and the cultural night at the Admiralty Conference Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos from 7pm-9pm. The highpoint of the event will be on Monday, May 22, 2023 at the NDL from 9 am to 12 noon.”
Gambo said Buhari will during the event review the NN fleet at anchorage along Lagos channel and commission two ships (NNS Kada and NNS Ibeno) and a recently acquired NN helicopter.
“Under Mr President, we have been able to have as much as 15 ships and boats which have assisted us in the patrol of our waters but of course you will also note that in the last 10 years, we have also decommissioned a number of ships and vessels so what that means is as we are getting in more, of course you will be decommissioning some others and Nigeria has a maritime space of over 84,000 square miles, what that means is we have a maritime space that is almost one quarter the size of Nigeria’s land space. That is a lot of area to patrol.
“The number of vessels we have are not near sufficient enough to patrol the whole of our waters but we have managed to patrol our waters most times through surveillance and that is why we have the Falcon eye and the other MDA, Regional Maritime Awareness Capability. These two have assisted us to monitor our maritime space such that once an infraction is detected, we can then send our vessels out there but to say Nigeria Navy have about 49-50 ships is enough to patrol our is a no no. It’s not near enough, we need more and we are grateful to Mr President for these vessels that he has made available to us but the essence is, the NN needs much more than that for proper patrol over our waters,” he said.
He said the PFR involves 16 NN warships, three AW109E NN helicopters and a mix of Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Aircraft ; one MI35 Helicopter, one Diamond-42, one ATR-42 MPA and three A29 Super Tucano.
He added that some foreign warships from allied nations including Spain, Brazil and Ghana are also expected to participate in the exercise.
He listed the participating NN ships as NNS THUNDER, NNS CENTENARY, NNS IKENNE, NNS KADA, NNS LANA, NNS KANO, NNS NGURU, NNS IBENO, NNS ABA, NNS OJI, NNS ANDONI, NNS OSUN, NNS OSE, NNS EKULU, NNS GONGOLA and NNS SHIRORO.
