Consolidating Maritime Protection, Operational Readiness at Sea

To sustain the reduction of piracy and other maritime criminalities in its territorial waters and Gulf of Guinea, as well as assess the operational readiness of the fleet under its command, the Western Naval Command recently held its fourth quarter sea exercise codenamed EX OMI MIMO. Chiemelie Ezeobi and Precious Ugwuzor report that at sea, the fleet carried out anti-piracy operations, oil rig protection, fleet maneuver and communication exercises

For every nation, the maritime domain is a resource provider and critical contributor to its growth and prosperity, especially those lining its coasts as well as those inwards due to the access its grants them.

For Nigeria, its maritime environment is rich in natural resources like crude oil, manganese nodules, copper, natural gas, Diamonds, Bitumen, Copper, Uranium, Granit, Quartz, Lead, Fluorite, Marble, amongst others.

Undoubtedly, Nigeria occupies strategic location in international seaborne trade along the Gulf of Guinea (GOG). Resource-wise, the GoG countries have an estimated 24 billion barrels of crude oil reserves, that is five per cent of global reserves at five million barrels of crude oil per day.

Also, the GoG is also the primary conduit of international trade and is central to the economy of the associated regions. Therefore, in the scheme of things, this conduit must be protected for the economy to thrive.

Diverse Maritime Threats

Essentially, the safe passage of ship and goods is among the nation’s vital maritime interests. Thus, any threat to law and order in Nigeria’s maritime environment is a direct threat to the country’s economic well-being and by extension its national development.

But despite its rich throve of resources, the GoG waters face diverse maritime threats such as piracy, sea robbery, Crude Oil Theft (COT), illegal oil bunkering, smuggling, Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing, militancy and kidnapping for ransom.

Drop in Piracy

But given the sustained operations and exercises the navy has continuously carried out against the myriad maritime illegalities, the latest piracy report from the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) recorded a drastic reduction of piracy in Nigerian waters as well as the Gulf of Guinea (GoG).

According to the report sighted on www.defenceweb.co.za, piracy in the GoG and Nigerian waters is now on a record low, as pirate activities in the first nine months of 2021 are the lowest reported in 17 years.

Lauding the decrease, the bureau report read thus, “The overall reduction of piracy and armed robbery incidents in the region bears testament to enhanced maritime security and response co-ordination measures adopted by regional and national authorities.”

Reacting to the report, the Director of Navy Information, Commodore Suleman Dahun noted that the Nigerian Navy’s consistent fight against piracy and other forms of maritime illegalities have begun to pay off.

Vision for the Navy

For many, this achievement was in line with the vision of the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo which is to “to leverage all factors of national location, technology, training, teamwork and synergy to re-energise the Nigerian Navy and enhance her as a well-motivated and ready naval force in the discharge of her constitutional mandate and other assigned tasks in fulfillment of national security objectives”.

Exercise OMI MIMO

Therefore, to sustain the grounds gained in enhancing national prosperity by address the myriad threats of piracy, crude oil theft and illegal fishing, the navy recently held its fourth quarter sea exercise codenamed Exercise OMI MIMO which means Clean Water in Yoruba language.

Deployment

For this sea exercise, a total of six ships, two helicopters and a detachment of NN Special Boat Service (SBS) alongside two Deep Blue Project ships were deployed. The participating ships were NNS PROSPERITY, NNS EKULU, NNS NGURU, NNS ABA, NNS OSUN and NNS OSE. Others were Deep Blue vessels ABUJA and LAGOS.

Flag-off

At the flag off for the Western Naval Command (WNC), the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Rear Admiral Jason Gbassa, said EX OMI MIMO was basically conceived to consolidate on the gains so far made by the command.

He further opined that Ex OMI MIMO equally enabled the command to assess the state of readiness and other operational status of ships in her fleet as they round up the year and transit to 2022, adding that the exercise also provided the platform to align their training objectives with the operational requirements in furtherance of the CNS vision and mission for the NN.

He said: “Year 2021 ushered in the gradual return of blooming shipping activities in Nigeria Maritime Domain after the lull occasioned by the COVID-19 Pandemic. Similarly, the abolition of the erstwhile Lagos secure anchorage area hitherto operated by one of the PMLSC presented another daunting task.

“This was equally happening amidst reported high incidents of piracy that has characterised the GoG with the attendant impact on our economy and national image. Without mincing words, the command knew that it had to redouble efforts to be able to confront this hydra headed monster if our nation is to gain sea control of its maritime space.

“Accordingly, the command set out challenged and indeed guided by the mission spelt out for it in the CNS Strategic Directive 05 – 2021 to surmount the menace. In the course of the year, the command has had to conduct series of operations to establish credible presence at sea, execute mission specific tasks to effectively deny criminals freedom of action within the command’s Area Of Responsibility (AOR) and conduct exercises to enhance the proficiency of the men.

“The command also rose to the challenge that came with the abolition of the Secured Anchorage Area regime. These were achieved through series of planned and coordinated operations targeted at specific decisive conditions and its accompanying special effects in our maritime line of operation.

“The effective use of the Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) facilities for round the clock surveillance has helped the Command to be precise in its targeting and effective hunt for rogue vessels thus reducing time on tasks.

” It needs be noted that the command enjoyed the support of other commands and military formations as well as decisive collaboration from maritime stakeholders, both local and international, to enhance its policing duty. The collaborative efforts have resulted in some high-profile arrests which are currently either being investigated or handed over to relevant security agencies for prosecution.”

Consolidation

On the exercise, he said it was basically conceived to consolidate on the gains so far made by the command. While commending the CNS for his unyielding support for the command, especially with the limited resources competing with the numerous demand, Gbassa said “for the first time in decades, the GoG recorded its lowest incidence of piracy with same being said for sea robbery in our maritime domain.

“What is more interesting is that within the WNC AOR, only one incident of pirate attack occurred in the first three quarters of 2021 despite the Domain accounting for about 90 per cent of Nigeria’s shipping activities. This is a feat we intend to guide jealously and even improve upon.”

Exercises at Sea

At sea, some of the exercises that were conducted include anti-piracy operations, oil rig protection, fleet maneuver, communication exercise, Vessel Board Search and Seizure (VBSS), Search and Rescue among others.

As the curtains drew close on the exercise, the FOC assured that they will continue to work assiduously to ensure that all criminal elements sabotaging the collective prosperity within WNC AOR are denied freedom of action by effectively and efficiently bringing them to book.

Rear Admiral Gbassa further noted that “it is hoped that Ex OMI MIMO will provide invaluable maritime combat experiences that will help the command to stay relevant in our quest to dominate our entire maritime environment. We will continue to sustain and improve on these efforts in order to attain the desired goal.”

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It is hoped that Ex OMI MIMO will provide invaluable maritime combat experiences that will help the command to stay relevant in our quest to dominate our entire maritime environment. We will continue to sustain and improve on these efforts in order to attain the desired goal