Federal Government To Upgrade Nigerian Eastern Naval Command

The Federal Government has pledged to release funds for the upgrade and renovation of worn out facilities in the Nigerian Navy, Eastern Naval Command.

Speaking Tuesday at the Forward Operating Base, Ibaka, Mbo Local Government Area, during a tour of facilities in the Eastern Naval Command,

House Committee Chairman on Navy, Mr Yusuf Gagdi, said the National Assembly will make funds available for renovation and upgrade of facilities in the base.

He said his tour around the base showed that the officers and men of FOB, Ibaka were working but under strenuous conditions which was not helping to make their output optimal.

Gagdi who commended FOB Ibaka for their efforts so far, stated that the Navy was a fore runner and help to other related security agencies in the fight against economic sabotage-related crime, and must be encouraged to do more.

He said funds were going to be raised from any available quarters legitimized, and the Federal Government would be directed to use them to take care of the challenges in the base which have already been noted and compiled.

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He noted that since the problems and challenges of the base were technical in nature, they would have to be passed through the professional consultants in the National Assembly to determine their financial implications.

“The most important reason why we are here is to see where the Navy is having issues and challenges towards the determination of the Federal Government to ensuring that our waterways are secure.

“We are not surprised to see the achievements recorded in intercepting some diesels that are meant to be exported to countries like Cameroon and others.

“For our Navy to have helped Nigerian Customs, Nigeria Police and other related security organisations that are supposed to join hands in combating this economic sabotage-related crime, I am happy as the Chairman of the Nigerian Navy to see that the Navy are doing very well.

“He who is doing well should be recommended and he who is doing well should be supported.
“They have their own jetty but it is a problem to them. They are achieving well but do not have enough facilities to function in the area of jetties.

“They have one that was abandoned by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) but we are not going to rely on the NDDC to ensure that the welfare, as well as other platforms needed by the Nigerian Navy must be provided for them.

“As a Committee Chairman of the National Assembly and representative of Nigerians, we have the right to cut and paste, and that is what we are going to do to this base by ensuring that we cut some certain funds to paste where they are supposed to be.

“We will do our best to ensure that we strengthen the economic commitment, the security commitment, and the commitment to serving Nigeria as it is displayed in the Nigerian Navy in the Eastern Naval Command.

“We have various ways of helping security organisations. It is either we wait during appropriation or we find a way of legitimising and directing the Federal Government to spend some certain funds for curtailing the problems.

“Most of the problems faced by the Nigerian Navy, there are some that we cannot wait for the end of the year before we appropriate funds to them. We will do the needful by using the powers provided by the National Assembly in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to ensure that we have legitimized some funds and direct the Federal Government to spend them in those regards.

“The problems are technical; they require due process, which is why we are formulating the compilation of those challenges. It is only when we see and refer those problems to our professional consultants in the National Assembly, then we should be able to project financial implications.

“We don’t know how much we need to fix the problems. I can only tell you the platforms, we need patrol aircraft, maritime patrol aircraft, helicopters and other platforms but I cannot tell you the attendant financial implications,” he stated.

Also speaking, the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Naval Command, Rear Admiral David Adeniran, who accompanied the House Committee Chairman on the visit said, “The visit of the Chairman and members of House Committee on the Nigerian Navy is part of the oversight functions of the National Assembly.

“The visit enabled the Committee scrutinize utilization of funds provided for the Service and justify appropriations for more funding to meet challenges of the Command.

“The Committee has seen the challenges of the Command firsthand. The Nigerian Navy functions through its Commands and therefore the summation of the Commands’ challenges equal to that of the Navy.

“Invariably, adequate funding of the Nigerian Navy would ameliorate the challenges of the Command, including Eastern Naval Command”.