Navy Calls for Technological Training, Seeks New Approach to Combat Maritine Threats

Rebecca Ejifoma

Following current and emerging security threats in the maritime domain, the Nigeria Navy (NN) has set up new means in combating such threats, as it calls for technological training among its personnel.

With the theme, ‘Consolidating Professional Training in the Nigerian Navy’, the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, said the security challenges against the service’s operational doctrine informed the theme.

“There is a need for constant review of the Navy’s training policy and other doctrinal authorities, to balance the country’s security equation,” he said.

Speaking at the second edition of Naval Training in Lagos, Ibas, who was represented by the Chief of Training and Operations (CTOP), Rear Admiral Ferguson Bobai, expressed: “The NN, like other navies of the world, relies on professional training for manpower development to accomplish assigned constitutional roles. Training a navy like ours is getting more complex and demanding”.

According to him, “This is because apart from requirements for a constant review of the schools’ curricula to allow for new acquisitions, it also needs to continue to address the traditional threats and those posed by non-state actors.”

He added that to this end, the operational doctrine of the NN has been challenged by some emerging threats in their maritime environment and the nation as a whole. This trend, also, underscores the need to review our training policy and other doctrinal authorities to balance the security equation of the country.

Ibas, who lauded NAVTRAC for its successes, said a team from the International Hydrography Organisation (IHO) would be visiting Nigeria between March 18 and 23, to inspect the Nigerian Navy Hydrography School (NNHS), with a view to making it a regional centre for hydrographic studies.

Meanwhile, Flag Officer Commanding, Naval Training Command, Rear Adm. Obi Ofodile, told newsman that the security issues Nigeria is facing today are a little more than they used to be. “What we experience today in Nigeria is more like a warfare the enemy is not defined; you do not even know where he is; so, efforts to confront them are not conventional”.

He added: “Hence, what we have agreed is the need to embrace technological based training and modern technology in our training.”

Participants, who were addressed on, ‘Enhancing Technical Training in the NN to meet Global Best Practice’, were urged to use e-learning effectively.