Nigerian Navy, UK Military Commit to Maritime Security through VBSS Training

Esther Oluku

The Nigerian Navy (NN) and the British Military Advisory Training Team (BMATT) have reaffirmed their commitment to continuous capacity building and enhanced security of Nigeria’s maritime domain through training as 20 NN Special Boat Service (SBS) personnel graduated from the Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) programme, yesterday.

The VBSS training was organised by the UK Commandos as part of efforts to boost the expertise of NNSBS personnel towards combating piracy, oil theft, human and drug trafficking, and other maritime crimes.

Through this training, the Nigerian Navy is poised to advance the cause of the safe passage of goods and persons on Nigeria’s national and international waterways.

Commander of the Joint Maritime Training Centre (JMTC), Commander Benjamin Audu Francis, speaking at the ceremony in Lagos, said that the training which started on September 2, provided an opportunity for the 20 participants to learn boarding techniques under the Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) programme and created an avenue for simulating other technical drills.

He expressed optimism that the participants will leverage the training to deliver more success as they advance in their careers. He also lauded the British Military Advisory Training Team (BMATT) for their professionalism and discipline. 

In his words: “We continue to pray that the collaboration is sustained for future training opportunities. I was impressed by the professionalism and discipline of the BMATT and our participants. Their interest in learning too was very, very good.

“They maximized the learning opportunity. We thank the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, for approving the training, and we also pray that we have more training opportunities here in the center,” he said.

He added that already, six of the trained officers have gone on their first mission on board a Spanish Navy ship, VBR Pooja, for VBSS Serial, which is also part of the passing exercise.

On how the training would enhance operations, Commander Francis said, “We have ships at sea that are usually deployed for anti-piracy operations, and some of these men will have to board the vessels and search for anything that has to do with maritime crimes. And if the ship is found wanting, they will be interrogated and arrested.”

Team lead, BMATT and Captain, Royal Marines from 42 Command, Tom Pycock, explained that for the last four weeks they have been developing the VBSS capability of NNSBS.

“We have covered everything from close quarter combat in the buildings located around JMTC. From here, we have moved on to the range work. We have done sniper, long distance shooting, along with both pistol and rifle close quarter marksmanship progressing the capability of the NNSBS and improving their speed and times on the shoots,” he said.

He noted that the NNSBS is a very capable Force, adding that although they were instructors, they also learned a lot from the Nigerian Force. 

He applauded the participants for their dedication to the training stating that they showed up daily ready to learn.