The Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, yesterday said the Nigerian Navy expect the arrival of fast-moving offshore patrol vessels from Turkiye, Singapore, France and China to fight oil theft, piracy and other Marítime Crimes in the nation’s Waterways and Gulf of Guinea (GoG).
Speaking at the ceremonial sunset dinner to mark the 69th anniversary of the Nigerian Navy held in Lagos, the Naval chief said the boats would be delivered by the third quarter of 2025.
According to Ogalla, the acquisition of the craft to the NN’s platform would reposition the Navy to protect the nation against piracy and maritime crimes.
“We’re also expecting two by 36-meter offshore patrol vessels from Turkey, three by 46-meter fast patrol boats from China, and three by 38-meter sea eagle patrol boats from France. Also, we’re expecting three 17-meter manned patrol boats from Singapore and several other club boats, which are scheduled to be delivered in the third quarter of this year.
“Our Indigenous shipbuilding program is also progressing well as the construction of two by 38-meter seawall defence boats and several other security stations are progressing speedily with their completion scheduled for this year or by the third quarter of next year.
“The addition of these platforms to our fleet will reposition the Nigerian Navy to protect naval power within the Gulf of Guinea region and beyond. And this is, of course, in line with our strategic goal. We also embarked on massive infrastructural developments across various commands,” he stated.
“Some of these include the construction of administrative blocks, jetties, strategic co-reserve depots, and barracks accommodation.
We are building several barracks accommodations and offices across the command to provide fitting quarters for our fleet. During the Navy week, we commissioned the Washington Towers also in the Navy Tower, Abuja, the newly built flats at Apapa, and the central pay office accommodation quarters in Apapa.
“These are among so many other accommodations that will soon be commissioned in the months to come. By the end of 2025, we have envisaged that we would have successfully provided new accommodation for not less than 1,500 personnel in Lagos, Abuja and Kano. Our goal is to ensure that we create comfortable homes for our personnel and their families.
In the area of human capital development, we have ensured adequate foreign and local training to improve the capacity of our personnel. We improved personnel enumeration and increased the recruitment index for all societies to boost our strength. We are providing various medical evaluations and interventions for both serving and retired personnel and their families.”
The naval boss also disclosed that to combat maritime crimes on the nation’s waters and the Gulf of Guinea region, they ensured sustained partnerships and collaboration with key stakeholders and international partners.
Ogalla said Operation Delta Sanity aimed at combating oil theft in the Niger Delta region, had ensured stability in the GoG.
“We have sustained partnerships and collaboration with key stakeholders and international partners to combat maritime crimes in our waters and the Gulf of Guinea region to ensure a conducive environment for shipping and legitimate economic activities. In our operations, we have recorded significant accomplishments so far. For instance, in January 2025, we conceived our Operation Delta Sanity, which was aimed at combating oil theft in the Niger Delta region by incorporating aerial surveillance as well as our multi-domain awareness capabilities to enhance the operation.
“So far, the operation has been effective with a series of arrests and seizures of ships and vessels, and various quantities of petroleum, oil, and lubricants. We also commenced fiscalization duties in January 2025 to monitor loading activities at the nation’s crude oil loading platforms.
“The successes of our operations, particularly the fiscalization duties, have led to an increase in Nigerian daily food load production to about 1.7 million barrels per day, as stated by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Recruitment Commission in February this year.
“In line with our strategies, we are involved in various plant-based operations across the industry in collaboration with sister services to ensure national security.
“In May 2025, we established the Special Operations Command, which helped us in recording, to provide command and control of our special overseas operations capabilities. We also established the Nigerian Navy Marines as an agile expeditionary force for the Nigerian Navy’s plant-based operations to improve our operational capability to combat asymmetric threats,” he stated.
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