The President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the Special Guest of Honour (SGOH) at the commissioning of 3 Warships & 2 Helicopters by the Nigerian Navy in Naval Dockyard Limited (NDL), Lagos Thursday 30 May 2024.
The President, who was represented by the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima also flagged off a Regional Maritime Exercise(REMEX) & declared the NN International Maritime Conference (IMC) 2024, open.
All three events (commissioning, flag-off & conference) were to commemorate NN 68th Anniversary.
In his remarks, the President Commended the Nigerian Navy and the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla for creating a safe and secure maritime environment.”
The President referred to the NN as “lifeguards of Nigeria’s Maritime Environment” and applauded Vice Admiral Ogalla’s anti- crude oil theft operations which has led to increasing levels oil production for Nigeria
The 3 newly acquired ships and 2 helicopters commissioned by the Vice President were;
– NNS OCHUZOR -35m Hydrographic Survey Vessel.
– NNS CHALAWA – 32m Seaward Defence Boat (SDB)
– NNS ZUR 32m (Seaward Defence Boat)
– Helo NN 412
– Helo NN 414
The VP flagged off the REMEX tagged “ABO-OKUN,” onboard the Helo-Deck of NNS KADA as participating ships from various navies filed past.
The navies involved in the exercise include Brazil, Cameroon, China and 11 NN ships with 2 Helicopters.
Several countries also attended Day 1 of the IMC 2024, including S. Korea, France, China, UK, Spain, Russia, Ghana, Cameroon, Senegal, Equitorial Guinea, Gambia & Benin.
The theme of the Conference which continues today, Friday 31 May 2024, is “Promoting the Blue Economy in Africa through International Cooperation on Maritime Security” and it is poised to engender discourse on how to optimize the benefits of the Blue Economy for economic growth.
This year’s NN 68th Anniversary has shown undoubtedly, that under the leadership of Vice Admiral Ogalla and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu the Nigerian Navy is at its highest state of operational readiness.
