The navy’s commitment is contained in a communique issued on Wednesday in southern city of Asaba, the oil rich Delta State capital.
The communique expressed the navy’s resolve and commitment to securing the country’s maritime environment with workable strategies.
It said this is aimed at re-positioning the Nigerian Navy to adequately respond to the contemporary as well as emerging security challenges in the nation’s maritime environment.
The navy would initiate the formulation of a comprehensive framework for inter-agency cooperation at the ministerial level and evolve viable civil-military cooperation, the communique said.
It also solicited for intervention funding, enhanced capacity of the technical branch as well as necessary tools and functional workshops for the navy.
Nigeria was contending with different security challenges and the Navy had the responsibility to synergize strategies to tackle the security challenges in the maritime domain.
The Nigerian government has decried the high rate of piracy, crude oil theft, illegal bunkering, pipeline vandalism and other criminal activities in the nation’s maritime domain.
Nigeria loses between 40, 000 and 100, 000 barrels (of crude oil) a day due to theft while illegal fishing (poaching) and pollution that threatens the local food supply is also thriving in addition to the fact that drug and human trafficking are enjoying a boom in the West African coastlines. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
