The Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Ilesanmi Alade, has said that the navy was taking delivery of some vessels aimed at taking full charge of the sea.
Alade made this known while speaking with journalists during the sea inspection which ended late in the night on Wednesday in Lagos.
He said the vessels would also enable the navy to take full control of the sea from pirates.
“We have two Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) coming from China, that is Nigeria Navy Ship (NNS) Centenary and also one of them that is to be completed next year.
“We also have NNS Opabaran, which is the sister ship to NNS Thunder and we have taken delivery of that in the United States, already.
“This vessel is going to join the fleet that we have shortly.
“So, with these vessels joining the Nigerian fleet, we continue to do the things we do at sea, which is, taking absolute charge and control of our waters,” he said.
Alade said the essence of the sea exercise was to give him a complete idea of the state of affairs of the vessels at sea, particularly the operational state of the ships.
“We thank God that we have gone and come back and in my own estimation, the exercise has been a very successful one.
“This goes to show you the operational readiness of the Nigerian Navy in particular.
“For this exercise, we put to sea five vessels and they all performed excellently,” he said.
Alade said that the navy was in charge of the sea, adding that the exercise was a good opportunity for navy personnel to train, emphasising that training at sea was paramount.
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