The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla has said the service would inaugurate three recently acquired ships and two helicopters in its inventory on 30 May 2024.
He disclosed this at the interdenominational service in Abuja held as part of events to mark the 68th anniversary of the Nigerian Navy.
Ogalla also said the service was expecting five Operational Vessels from China and Turkey by the third quarter of the year.
He said, “We want to also use this opportunity to commend our efforts, particularly in the area of fleet renewal. On 30 May this year, we are commissioning three more ships and two more helicopters. This is in addition to several other OPVs that are coming from different parts of the world. We have two OPVs that are coming from Turkey, which are billed to come in the third quarter of this year, and we have three that are coming from China”.
The naval chief noted that efforts were ongoing to build and repair ships in the country.
Ogalla said this was crucial to the growth of the service and the nation‘s blue economy.
He said, “Our local shipbuilding effort has become a cardinal point of my vision in the Nigerian Navy.
This is because we realize that the only way we can grow as a navy is to make sure that we have local content in all our key areas of development.
Of course, which, you know, shipbuilding is part of it. Also, we recognize that shipbuilding and ship repairs will contribute effectively to the overall blue economy, which is one of the agenda of the present administration”.
He urged the personnel to redouble their efforts to achieve more feats in the coming years.
Ogalla said, “To this end, I urge every one of us to work hard to redouble our efforts to ensure that we achieve even more in the years ahead. Let us make sure that we have a navy that we will be proud of”.
