Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, the newly appointed Chief of Naval Staff, has taken office and pledged to take decisive action against oil thieves undermining the country’s economy.
Speaking at the handing-over ceremony on Friday in Abuja, Ogalla said the nation’s economy and maritime security are at risk from piracy and other criminal activity.
“We constantly face serious threats,” he said, citing theft of crude oil, the prevalence of illegal refineries, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, piracy, sea robbery, various forms of trafficking, and other maritime crimes.
These present dangers not only to our maritime security but also to the health of our economy and the advancement of our country. Let me be clear, though: We are dedicated to confronting these security issues head-on. We’ll step up our efforts to stop illegal refining and stop the theft of crude oil.
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“We will improve our ability to fight piracy and sea robbery and make sure that our maritime domain is generally safe.
In order to fulfil our constitutional mandate, I am confident that we can make our maritime domain a safer, more secure, and prosperous place for socioeconomic activities to flourish.
Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo (ret. ), the former CNS, claimed that during his leadership, the service developed stricter operational concepts and strategies to combat the devastating effects of piracy, sea robbery, the proliferation of illegal refineries, brazen crude oil theft, and destruction of crucial oil and gas infrastructure, among other things.
For this reason, we increased our dedication to anti-piracy operations, anti-COT operations, choke point operations, as well as riverine and swamp operations, he said.
“To give this resolve momentum, we started a massive fleet renewal programme, implemented strong logistics management, bought additional platforms, improved human capital, developed a comprehensive infrastructure, and worked well with regional and international partners.
“Without the tremendous support we received from all directions, our resolve to tackle the various maritime security challenges would have been weaker.”
