Boosting the Nigerian Navy

Ensuring the Navy can tackle contemporary challenges.

Nigeria: A War Chest Against Maritime Crimes

By Chiemelie Ezeobi

Chiemelie Ezeobi writes on the Nigerian Navy’s acquisition of 60 gunboats, to boost its war chest to tackle maritime criminalities, especially militancy, pipeline vandalism and piracy on the nation’s waterways.

With over 3,000 creeks and inland waterways in Nigeria, some of which had remained unpatrolled and out of reach to the security forces, it was unavoidable that crime would foster in such areas. An example that readily comes to mind is the cartel of vandals that had taken over such creeks in Arepo, Ishawo, Awawa and Igando, in both Lagos and Ogun States. As the military forces were wiping out the vandals, they were going in deeper into the creeks and mangroves, where the navy’s patrol boats find difficult to access. Their reign of terror lasted for decades until the recent Operation Awatse, an Hausa word for ‘Scatter’ was launched.

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Source: allafrica.com