The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, on Sunday, said the service would inaugurate two recently acquired ships and three helicopters on May 30, 2024, into its inventory.
He added that the service was expecting five Operational Vessels from China and Turkey by the third quarter of the year.
Ogalla spoke at the interdenominational service in Abuja held as part of events to mark the 68th anniversary of the Nigerian Navy.
“We want to also use this opportunity to commend our efforts, particularly in the area of fleet renewal. On May 30 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, we have three that are coming from China,” Ogalla said.
The PUNCH reports that the wife of the President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, on April 21 launched the second 76-metre High Endurance Offshore Patrol Vessel built by DEARSAN Shipyard in Turkey.
The first patrol vessel was launched in October 2023.
The naval chief said 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 realise 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. And also we recognise that shipbuilding and ship repairs will contribute effectively to the overall blue economy, which is one of the agenda of the President’s administration.
He, however, 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.”
