Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja
The Nigerian Navy and the National Agency for Science Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to begin a sustained collaboration that would see the two organisations among other projects, provide the capacity for the construction of oil tankers, fishing vessels for the development of the oil and gas industry.
Speaking at the Naval Headquarters, Abuja, venue of the ceremony, the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, applauded the efforts of NASENI in collaborating with the Nigerian Navy especially in research and development, which necessitated its visit to the Naval Dockyard Limited in Lagos, geared towards refining Nigerian Navy local ship construction efforts.
“This indigenous shipbuilding efforts has enhanced presence of the Nigerian Navy at sea, which led to significant reduction of piracy incidents culminating into delisting Nigeria from list of International Maritime Bureau list of piracy prone countries.
“This has ultimately reduced high insurance premium (known as war risk premium), which is usually factored into shipping cost due to the prevalence of piracy incidences”, he said.
The naval chief said “NASENI’s tremendous efforts, which is changing the dynamics of engineering as well as facilitating research and development initiatives at every sector of human endeavour in our great nation and beyond is outstanding and commendable.
In his remarks, the Executive Vice Chairman of NASENI, Prof Mohammed Haruna, said the signing of the MoU depicted the determination of the two agencies to improve local manufacturing.
“Our collaboration will save Nigeria foreign exchange and improve local manufacturing.
I visited the naval dockyard in Lagos and saw the creativity of the Nigerian Navy, I sought our presence there which was approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“It is an MoU that will provide tangibles for our nation”, he said.
Earlier in his remarks, the Chief of Naval Engineering, Rear Admiral F Ladan, said the parties agreed to set up a research laboratory in NASENI, while the agency is expected to provide training for Nigerian Navy personnel.
The Navy is also to provide the necessary capacity for construction of fishing vessels and oil tankers even as the naval chief had given approval for the participation 100 navy personnel in the project.
He said NASENI already “signed an MoU with international partners for the production of valves for the use of our ships for the development of the oil and gas industry”.
