The Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Emmanuel Ogalla, says there has been no record of piracy on Nigerian territorial waters in the last two years.
Mr Ogalla, a vice admiral, disclosed this on Wednesday in Calabar while addressing participants of Naval Warfare Course 8, on his vision and mission for the Nigerian Navy.
He attributed the feat to the sustained counterpiracy efforts of the navy on Nigerian waters, since his assumption of office.
The CNS said that the navy had conducted a series of operations to maintain a credible presence at sea to checkmate piracy and robbery.
According to him, the efforts led to the reduction of criminalities on the sea from 22 incidences of piracy and 16 sea robberies in 2020 to just two and three, respectively, in 2022.
He also said that the figure was the lowest recorded in 27 years, adding that this led to the delisting of Nigeria from the world piracy list by the International Maritime Bureau in 2021.
He further said that the navy had sustained efforts against crude oil theft through Operation Delta Sanity which was activated in January.
According to him, since the launch of the operation, oil thieves have been denied about 448,380 litres of illegally refined gas, 68,250 litres of petrol and about 6,293 barrels of stolen crude oil.
He also said that the Nigerian Navy had recorded successes against smugglers.
Mr Ogalla said both Operation Calm Waters II and the tripartite joint border patrol, spearheaded the war against smuggling.
The CNS explained that under these operations, 5,329 bags of foreign parboiled rice smuggled in wooden boats were intercepted from January to date.
He added that in 2023, the operatives seized more than 1,200 bags of marijuana.
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The Naval chief said 15 fishing trawlers were apprehended for various offences between January 2023 and January 2024.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Naval Warfare Course 8 has 24 participants comprised of 17 naval officers, two each from the air force and army, one each from Cameroon, Ghana and Guinea Bissau.
(NAN)
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