President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday commissioned three warships and 27 patrol boats belonging to the Nigerian Navy in furtherance of efforts to strengthen the Navy and position it to fight external and internal aggressions from the waters.
The three warships include NNS Karaduwa, NNS Unity and TUG Commander Uwgu. The TUG Commander Ugwu is named after a naval commander who lost his life in active service in the Niger Delta waters.
The naval engineers locally built two of the war boats, TUG Ugwu and NNS Karaduwa before being fitted with necessary navigational accessories, while NNS Unity was acquired from China. It is the second warship the Nigerian Navy has acquired from China in the last two years.
President Buhari at the event, which had Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos, ministers and service chiefs in attendance, said the acquisition of the warship again from China was a testimony to “Nigeria’s growing relationship with China of which the Nigerian Navy is a major beneficiary.”
The President, commending the Navy for their ingenuity in looking inward at the time the country was faced with recession and revenue shortfall, pledged the continued support of the Federal Government to the Navy.
He stated that such support was very necessary because “maritime safety is crucial to the wellbeing of the nation and the economy,” as the Navy was also saddled with the task of fighting piracy, oil theft and illegal bunkering.
‘‘The event of today is significant in many ways. Firstly, it is most fulfilling to note that our own engineers at the Nigerian Navy Dockyard, Lagos, and the Naval Shipyard, Port Harcourt, are wholly responsible for the building of the seaward defence boat, Nigerian Navy Ship Karaduwa and the TUG boat commander Edwin Ugwu, respectively. It is also worth noting that NNS Unity, which is Nigeria’s newest warship, is the second of such acquisitions from the Peoples’ Republic of China and is a product of Nigeria’s growing relationship with China.
‘’I take this opportunity to pay tribute to this friendship, especially in acknowledgement of the mutually helpful military cooperation, of which the Nigerian Navy has been a major beneficiary. I recall with profound appreciation the gesture of the Chinese government in donating an offshore patrol boat to the navy at the time of taking delivery of the sister ship of Nigerian Navy Unity last year.
‘’In the same vein, I enjoin their local partners to share in this commendation for their efforts at local facilitation.
“The Nigerian Navy has shown great foresight in nurturing the vision for this ship and her sister ship. It is even more heart warming that you have not confined your efforts to having recourse to foreign sources alone, but have braced up to take your destiny in your own hands by embarking on aggressive local complement provision to assemble your fleet.
‘’The Federal Government expects no less from you as looking inwards is the way to go amid a uniquely challenging mix of recession and rising acute security concerns,” the President said.
Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, the chief of naval staff, speaking earlier, said a total of 100 patrol boats had been injected into the naval fleet this year alone.
According to the Ekwe Ibas, the acquisition of the new warships will amplify the potency of the Nigerian Navy and properly position it to meet the expectations of Nigerians.
The naval chief said the Navy was faced by myriad of challenges, including insecurity in the Nigerian territorial waters, and this made it compelling to invest in equipment and personnel.
He said by resorting to building some of its warships, the Nigerian Navy was making enormous saving of foreign exchange that could have been expended if all its ships were to be acquired from outside the country. He did not, however, disclose the cost of building the two ships locally or acquiring the one from China.
JOSHUA BASSEY
