15th December, 2016
The president was received by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode at the Murtala Muhammed Airport early this morning and headed straight to the Naval Dockyard for the commissioning.
The president commissioned three ships, two of which were locally made by the navy and one war ship imported from China. He also commissioned 27 patrol boats for the use of the navy to patrol the nation’s water body.
Buhari was accompanied on the visit by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola and army chiefs.
Speaking at the event, Buhari said the Nigerian Navy had taken its destiny in its hands by locally producing some of its ships, especially in the face of the current recession being experienced in the country.
The two locally made ships are the NNS Unity and NNS Karaduwa; one tug boat-NNS Top Commander Ugwu.
Buhari said it was particularly significant and impressive that the ships were locally built, saying that security of the maritime sector was vital to the nation’s well being, now that the country was going through recession and arising security concerns.
According to him, “the event of today is significant for a number of reasons; first it is most fulfilling to know that our own engineers at the Nigerian Navy Dockyard Lagos and the Naval Ship yard Port Harcourt are wholly responsible for the building of ships. It is also worth noting that Nigerian Naval Unity which is Nigeria’s newest Ship is the second of such acquisition from the People’s Republic of China and it is a Product of Nigeria’s growing relationship with China.
“It is even more heart warming that you have not confined your efforts into foreign sources alone but have braced up to take your destiny in your own hands by embarking on aggressive local components from within to assemble your fleet,” he stated.
The president said that the Federal Government would continue to support the Navy in areas of capacity building, training and infrastructure development, while admonishing them to remember that the nation was in critical times and that as such, prudent resources management and patriotic re-dedication was critical.
Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Adm.Ibok Ete Ibas said the Navy was fully conscious of the huge investment upon it by the government, saying that the Navy was challenged by many vices including growing crime and adverse economic changes, among others.
According to him, there was need for the Navy’s fleet reactivation, adding that over 100 boats had been injected into its fleet for maritime activities.
Ibas said that the ships being commissioned had a two-pronged approach – local production and foreign investment from China.
Kazeem Ugbodaga