President Tinubu commissions 3 warships, 2 helicopters, and opens the Nigerian Navy International Maritime Conference 2024

The President & Commander- in – Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR was the Special Guest of Honour (SGOH) at the commissioning of 3xWarships & 2x Helicopters by the Nigerian Navy in Naval Dockyard Limited (NDL), Lagos yesterday 30 May 2024.

The President, who was represented by the Vice President, His Excellency Senator Kashim Shettima GCON, also flagged off a Regional Maritime Exercise(REMEX) & declared the NN International Maritime Conference (IMC) 2024, open. All three events (commissioning, flag-off & conference) were to commemorate NN 68th Anniversary.

In his remarks, the President commended the NN and the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla for creating a safe and secure maritime environment. The President referred to the NN as “lifeguards of Nigeria’s Maritime Environment” and applauded Vice Admiral Ogalla’s anti- crude oil theft operations which has led to increasing levels oil production for Nigeria.

The 3 newly acquired ships and 2 helicopters commissioned by the Vice President were:
– NNS OCHUZOR -35m Hydrographic Survey Vessel.
– NNS CHALAWA – 32m Seaward Defence Boat (SDB)
– NNS ZUR 32m (Seaward Defence Boat)
– Helo NN 412
– Helo NN 414

The VP flagged off the REMEX tagged “ABO-OKUN,” onboard the Helo-Deck of NNS KADA as participating ships from various navies filed past. The navies involved in the exercise include Brazil, Cameroon, China and 11xNN ships with 2xHelicopters.

Several countries also attended Day 1 of the IMC 2024, including US. Korea, France, China, UK, Spain, Russia, Ghana, Cameroon, Senegal, Equitorial Guinea, Gambia and Benin.

The theme of the Conference which continues today, Friday 31 May 2024, is “Promoting the Blue Economy in Africa through International Cooperation on Maritime Security” and it is poised to engender discourse on how to optimize the benefits of the Blue Economy for economic growth.

This year’s NN 68th Anniversary has shown undoubtedly, that under the leadership of Vice Admiral Ogalla and the C-in-C, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, the Nigerian Navy is at its highest state of operational readiness.

Source : Nigerian Navy