The Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, has said there has been no record of piracy on Nigerian territorial waters in the last two years.
Ogalla made the disclosure in Calabar while addressing participants of Naval Warfare Course 8, on his vision and mission for the Nigerian Navy.
He attributed the feat to the sustained counter piracy efforts of the Navy on Nigerian waters, since his assumption of office.
The CNS said the Navy had conducted series of operations to maintain credible presence at sea to checkmate piracy and robbery.
According to Ogalla, the efforts led to the reduction of criminalities on the sea from 22 incidences of piracy and 16 sea robberies in 2020 to just two and three, respectively, in 2022.
He also said the figure was the lowest recorded in 27 years, adding that this led to the delisting of Nigeria from the world piracy list by the International Maritime Bureau in 2021.
The CNS further said the Navy had sustained efforts against crude oil theft through the Operation Delta Sanity which was activated in January.
”Since the launch of the operation, oil thieves have been denied about 448,380 liters of illegally refined gas, 68,250 liters of petrol and about 6,293 barrels of stolen crude oil.
He also said the Nigerian Navy had recorded successes against smugglers.
Ogalla said Operation Calm Waters II and the tripartite joint border patrol spearheaded the war against smuggling.
He explained that under these operations, 5,329 bags of foreign parboiled rice smuggled in wooden boats were intercepted from January to date.
He added that in 2023, the operatives seized more than 1,200 bags of marijuana.
The Naval Chief said 15 fishing trawlers were apprehended for various offences between January 2023 and January 2024.
“The Naval Warfare Course 8 has 24 participants comprised of seventeen naval officers, two each from air force and army, one each from Cameroon, Ghana and Guinea Bisau”, he said.

By: Chinedu Wosu