The Nigeria Navy has commissioned 1,482 Ratings and Sub-Lieutenants in a bid to increase its operational strength against Boko Haram/Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists and all forms of on-shore and off-shore armed attackers in Nigeria’s maritime domain.
Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, who spoke at the commission ceremony at the Naval Basic Training School, Onne, Rivers State on Saturday, said the newly commissioned officers had been diligently trained to be flexible, innovative and proactive in the fight against all forms of criminals a d criminality, including all asymmetric and internal security threats from insurgents and kidnappers.
He said the Nigerian Naval College and the Nigerian Navy Basic Training School have remained at the peak of naval training not just in Nigeria but in African as well.
The CNS also acknowledged the efforts of Nigeria Navy in significantly reducing pirate attacks in the gulf of Guinea.
He said sea robberies in the Nigerian waterways had reduced to an all time lowest in 27 years, adding that this feat has been corroborated by both local and internal bodies.
He said; “These laudable developments have been acknowledged by the International Maritime Bureau in its global piracy report of 14th July, 2021, indicating the lowest total number of piracy and sea robbery attacks against shipping in the last 27 years.
“This report, as corroborated by the Defence Work Maritime Security report of 15th October, 2021, which noted further decline in reported cases of piracy, armed attacks against shipping in the gulf of Guinea.”
The CNS said 196 trainees from the Direct Short Service Course and Special Duty Pre-commission Training cadets were commissioned as Sub-Lieutenants, while 1,286 Trainees from the Nigerian Basic Training School were commissioned as Ratings in the Navy.
He also said the Navy would keep liaising with sister security agencies in joint operations against anti-state actors in all the nooks and crannies of the Country.
“In addition to supporting sister services in the North-East, North-West and North-Central joint operations against the Boko Haram insurgents, as well as ongoing internal operations against secessionist groups in the South-East, the Nigerian Navy in the last couple of months brought to bare her dominance status in the west African region by sustaining an aggressive presence in the nation’s maritime environment leading to the drastic reduction in acts of criminality in the gulf of Guinea”, the CNS stated.
