Determined to protect the country�s waterways against internal and external forces, the Nigerian Navy has deployed 16 combat ships which are also capable of securing oil facilities in the Niger Delta Region. The vessels which include four fast attack crafts, one frigate, four cat class ships, two inshore patrol crafts and several defender boats, would next week be tested on the high sea, up to the Gulf of Guinea to ascertain their capability.
The additional fleet was described by the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ganiu Adekeye, while on an annual inspection tour/sea excercise at the Western naval Command, Apapa, as an improvement compared to last year�s excercise in which only five war ships and four helicopters participated.
With the war ships in place, the Director of Information, Captain Obiora Medani, said it would be impossible for vandals to steal crude oil in the country�s deep water. Already, he said, �the intervention of the Nigeria Navy in anti-bunkering operations is paying off, adding that �there is a correlation between the successes we are achieving in anti-bunkering operations and the problem of hostage taking in the Niger Delta”.