The Nigerian Navy has revealed that it requires about ₦1.2 billion annually to keep a single warship operational, highlighting the enormous funding gap confronting the force in securing Nigeria’s maritime domain.

According to the Flag Officer Commanding, Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Gregory Oamen, the Navy has acquired 21 new vessels in the last decade, but sustaining them at sea demands an estimated ₦25.2 billion each year.

This revelation comes at a time when Nigeria spends nearly $400 million annually on War Risk premiums to foreign insurers, with shipowners also paying additional surcharges of between $1,000 and $2,000 daily once vessels cross five degrees east of Lagos waters.

Speaking at the third annual maritime lecture of the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN), themed “Addressing the Burden of War Risk Insurance Surcharge on Nigerian Maritime Trade – A Case for Review”, Oamen—represented by Captain O.O. Oginni, Commanding Officer of NNS Thunder—described the current level of naval coverage as “grossly inadequate” for Nigeria’s expansive waters.

He explained that the NNS Thunder alone, with a fuel capacity of 891,000 litres, costs about ₦1.2 billion to put to sea once a year, stressing that logistics remain the Navy’s biggest challenge despite government interventions.

Statistics presented showed that in 2022, naval patrols covered over 36,600 hours at sea, resulting in the arrest of 191 suspects, while 80 others were arrested in 2023. Between 2015 and 2021, the Navy handed over 333 vessels involved in maritime infractions to the appropriate authorities, achieving several successful piracy prosecutions under the SPOMO Act.

Nigeria’s maritime sector, Oamen noted, is of strategic importance, with a coastline of 420 nautical miles and an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) spanning 84,000 square nautical miles. The EEZ holds 37.2 billion barrels of crude oil (2.9% of global reserves) and 182 trillion cubic feet of gas, making maritime security vital to national survival.

Maritime trade also accounts for 86% of Nigeria’s external trade, with oil and gas contributing 40% of GDP and 83% of government revenue. Encouragingly, improved security has boosted weekly ship calls at Nigerian ports from 123 in 2021 to 145 in 2023, while fishing GDP rose from ₦12 billion to ₦15 billion within the same period.

Oamen therefore urged the Federal Government to establish a special intervention fund to help the Navy maintain at least four vessels per command daily, strengthen backwater surveillance, and expand drone integration into its Falcon Eye maritime monitoring system.

Former NIMASA Director-General, Temisan Omatseye, also stressed that despite Nigeria’s piracy-free status in recent years, the London-based Joint War Risk Committee (JWC) still imposes War Risk premiums on vessels operating in Nigerian waters.