Army Assault Boats Commissioned

Eight Assault boats and eight Fast Assault Craft imported by the Nigerian Army since 2008 without the necessary combat facilities and abandoned at the Amphibious Training School, Calabar, southsouth Nigeria, have been commissioned by the Minister of State for Defence Dr Olusola Obada.

The assault boats and fast combat craft which were rehabilitated and equipped with the needed equipment four years after importation are now combat-ready and would be deployed in combating sea pirates and vandals attacking oil installations in south-south territorial waters.

Obada, while commissioning the boats, said the facilities would be useful in providing security in the south–south which is presently going through renewed assault by militants and kidnappers.

According to her, President Goodluck Jonathan is committed to the safety of lives and property in the country and would do anything to ensure that everyone in the country is safe.

General Ihejirika, the Chief of Army Staff, said on the occasion that the rehabilitation of the boats was necessitated by the need to provide training and retraining for the Nigerian Army personnel to position them towards providing adequate security for the country and institutionalising best practices in the army.

He said Amphibious Training School was started in 1981 but became operational in 1986 but since then the school has not been well equipped to provide the role it was established for. He said the rehabilitation of the assault boats and fast crafts was within his vision of equipping and providing enhanced capability within the context of the present state of insecurity in the country.

“Indeed this commissioning today underscores the emphasis placed on provision of infrastructure with the view to achieving enhanced capability in the Nigerian Army,” he said.

He said that in the past decade, the major security challenge to the country has been the activities of criminals and other vandals of oil installations in the high sea and it is on this score that he is determined to transform and position the Nigerian Army into a contemporary force able to contain and curtail the activities of these elements.

He said the sabotage of oil installations, illegal refining of oil and kidnappings by misguided elements were still very much present in the Niger Delta in spite of the efforts of the Federal Government towards curtailing militancy, in the region, and these require “robust military and security presence as it is presently the cased and the success of our deployment of military personnel towards safeguarding lives and property of people in the area is paramount and this cannot be achieved without the training and retraining of personnel.”

The Commandant of the Amphibious Trashing School, Major General Tasiu Ibrahim said the refurbished military equipment would greatly boost the image and morale of the students as the school which had no facilities until June 2011 when the Chief of Army Staff visited is now the pride of the Nigerian Army able to train its personnel in amphibious combat. He commended the President and the Chief of Army Staff for their commitment towards providing adequate security for the nation.

—Emma Una, Calabar