The Nigerian Navy has
established three new commands to effectively patrol the nation’s waterways and curb criminalities, crude oil theft and piracy.
The Chief of Policy and Plans, Navy Headquarters, Rear Admiral Ameen Ikioda, disclosed this in a chat with journalists in Abuja, recently.
Ikioda said the establishment was to reduce all forms of criminalities in the nation’s maritime domain, and debunked claims that piracy and kidnapping had been on the increase in recent times.
He hinted that the regimes would constantly patrol the waters from the Western, Central and Eastern Commands, pointing out that “The Western Command operating from Lagos patrols up to Benin River, the Central command takes it from there, patrols up to River Nun and the Eastern Naval Command commences from Calabar to the River nun.”
According to him, “What we have tried to do is to cover most of those areas especially with the creation of central Naval Command,” stressing that the Navy is doing its best to ensure the prevention of maritime-related crimes in the nation’s territorial waters.
Ikioda further hinted that the incident of crude oil theft, piracy and kidnapping led to the establishment of the three commands, and added that since the establishment of the commands, the Navy had been able to tackle those crimes to a very minimal level.
He noted that the commands were also established due to the fact that the allegations prevalent in the waters were mostly in those areas.
The Chief of Policy and Plans also disclosed that many of their ships were back to sea and some undergoing repairs in the Naval Boatyards in Port Harcourt and Lagos, and posited that Navy fleets were doing a lot in ridding waters of criminals, although, “we can’t be everywhere, but we are doing our best to react to calls as they occur, we try to do the needful where the Navy is located.”

Chairman, Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (Sure-p), Retired Gen. Martin Lurther-Agwai (2nd-right), inspecting the light rail project in Abuja recently. With him is the coordinator, Sure-P operations, Mr Ali Fatoma.