On behalf of officers, ratings and civilian staff of the Nigerian Navy, I warmly welcome you all to the Naval Headquarters, Abuja.

This interaction is very important as it brings together industry regulators, maritime law enforcement as well as industry players to discuss critical issues which are germane to maritime and energy security. The development of Nigeria’s sectors over the last few decades, has witnessed several complex security challenges. Some of these include violent agitations, oil theft, pipeline vandalism, piracy/sea robbery,

amongst others. These are driven by proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons, communal clashes, poverty and unemployment. Traditional means of addressing the security challenges, have not yielded the desired result.  This prompted the drive for greater collaboration among stakeholders in the quest for effective development of this Sector.

Accordingly, this forum seeks to address emerging security issues arising from implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act, contemporary trends in maritime security as well as other law enforcement issues which border on maritime and energy security.

The Federal Government’s drive to develop the nation’s Blue Economy requires support of all stakeholders represented here today. Furthermore, the President, Commander-In-Chief, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR has expressed desire to enhance the ease of doing business within the maritime environment as well as the oil and gas sector in order to eradicate poverty in line with the Renewed Hoped Agenda. To this end, we need to align our discussions with these strategic level policy directions. The NN has sustained her maritime security operations through surveillance, response capability and law enforcement in addition to collaboration with all maritime stakeholders. We rejigged our operations and established OP DELTA SANITY in Jan 24. This operation has achieved remarkable successes in curbing oil theft. Over 35 ships involved in oil theft have been arrested and handed over to appropriate prosecuting agencies. Other measures have also been put in place to curb pipe line vandalism and illegally refining sites. The Nigerian Navy will continue to lean on your support especially the oil sector regulators to improve our daily production out put for enhanced national revenue and economic prosperity in line with presidential mandates.

I hope that today’s deliberations will foster tangible outcomes that would facilitate a more secure maritime environment. I want to reassure everyone here of the commitment of the Nigerian Navy to the fulfilment of our statutory roles in order to emplace a conducive maritime domain for economic prosperity of our nation.

Thank you and Onward together!