FG Pledges to Sustain Fleet Recapitalisation for Navy

*As first naval doctrine unveiled

Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday expressed the federal government’s determination to aggressively drive the ongoing fleet recapitalisation of the Nigerian Navy.

The president gave this assurance in a message to the closing ceremony of the 2021 Chief of Naval Staff Annual Conference, (CONSAC), held at the Kano State Government House.

Buhari, who was represented at the ceremony as the special guest of honour by the Minister of Defence, Maj.-Gen. Bashir Magashi said the need to acquire more platforms for the Navy was sacrosanct in order to enhance her capabilities to effectively secure the national waters against infractions by the sea pirates and other criminal elements.

He commended the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, for his patriotic service to the nation in emplacing proactive performance in dealing with threats that are inimical to harnessing maritime assets and the nation’s rich economic prosperity.

Magashi, who had attended all the technical sessions and intellectual discuss on contemporary maritime issues in relation to the theme of the 2021 CONSAC: “Enhancing Nigeria’s Maritime Security For Improved National Prosperity” led Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umaru Ganduje, former chiefs of defence staff and former chiefs of naval staff, known as the navy icons, to unveil the first naval doctrine to be emplaced since her inception in 1956.

Earlier in their separate remarks, Governor Ganduje and the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Gambo, carried out a post-mortem analysis of the 3-day conference in relation to its enormous benefits to boosting maritime stakeholders’ collaborative endeavours and the promotion of national security architecture of the country as a leading littoral state in the West African Sub-region.