President Bola Tinubu has inaugurates three ships and two helicopters at the Naval Dockyard, Victoria Island, Lagos, to boost the fight against crude oil theft and other insecurity in the maritime domain.

The inauguration of the platforms was part of activities lined up for the celebration of the 68th anniversary of the Nigerian Navy. The president, who was represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, performed the ceremony at the opening of the fifth international maritime conference and regional maritime exercise 2024 in Lagos.

In his remarks, Tinubu stated that the blue economy has added indispensable impact to the nation’s economy.

He commended the Nigerian Navy and the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla for creating a safe and secure maritime environment.

The president described to the Nigerian Navy 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 three newly acquired ships and two 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 vice president also 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 11 Nigerian Navy ships with two helicopters.Several countries also attended Day 1 of the IMC 2024, including South Korea, France, China, United Kingdom, Spain, Russia, Ghana, Cameroon, Senegal, Equatorial Guinea Gambia and Republic of Benin. The theme of the conference which continues is ‘Promoting the Blue Economy in Africa through International Cooperation on Maritime Security’.

This year’s 68th anniversary has shown undoubtedly, that under the leadership of Vice Admiral Ogalla and President Tinubu, the Nigerian Navy is at its highest state of operational readiness.