Nigerian Navy Calls for Fleet Replacement

CALABAR — THE Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ganiyu T. A. Adekeye has said that ships of the Nigerian Navy have become obsolete and wants the Federal Government to replace them between now and five years, according to a report by Vanguard Online

Adekeye who was in Calabar to tell the sailors of the Eastern Naval Command “on the state ofour navy and how we can move forward from where we are” said the navy was not pressing forimmediate replacement.He said he may have left the service when the change and order of battle (ORBAT) commences but that “we will have the satisfaction that we laid the right foundation” for the change.

Adekeye reportdly told the seafarers that he had a “Six-Point Action Plan” which aims at repositioning the force. These include operations, training which embraces educational training (from a globalperspective). Others are welfare, relationship with other services as well as loyalty anddiscipline.

The emerging deep-sea oil wells in our EEZ and the oilfields of the Gulf of Guinea present peculiar challenges that we in the Nigerian Navy have to plan for.

The logistic cost of sustaining naval operations in the deep-sea will certainly be higher thanwhat we are used to from our experience in coastal operations. Again, deep-sea operationsparticularly in the Gulf of Guinea have an international character.This will require us to have the right professional attitude, learn about the operational habit of other navies and be more responsive to potential distress situations.

(Source: Vanguard Online)