Nigerian Navy Concludes “Exercise Still Water”, Declares Readiness To Combat Piracy in Gulf of Guinea

The Nigerian Navy has concluded its 2020 Chief of the Naval Staff annual sea Inspection codenamed Exercise Still Water, even as it has assured of its combat readiness to address maritime illegalities within the nation’s territorial water and the Gulf of Guinea corridor.

Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibass, stated this at the Western Naval Command, Apapa, Lagos.

Ibas, described the four days exercise which included Anti-piracy operation, Protection of oil and gas facilities, Fleet manoeuvres, Communication, Vessel, Board Search and Seizure and Search and Rescue, as rewarding, noting that it had impacted positively on the operational efficiency of naval personnel in several areas.

The exercise according to the CNS who was represented by the Chief of Naval Safety and Standard, Rear Admiral Kamalrudeen Lawal, was conducted by the three operations commands, at a designated exercise area within the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

He said: “ The exercise was aimed at accessing the operational readiness and combat effectiveness of our fleet. As you may be aware, these goals are hinged on proper training and regular drills.

Training exercises all over the world are conducted to correct weakness and sustain strength.

In achieving these objectives, training exercises will always involve constant exercises that are physically challenging. This is in line with the maxim which says the more we sweat in peacetime, the less we bleed in war”

Adjudging the 2020 CNS annual sea inspection as successful and rewarding, he said,” exercise Still Waters has impacted positively on the operational efficiency of personnel in several areas. The exercise also provided a platform to align our training objectives with our operational realities, towards curtailing various threats in our maritime domain at the Gulf of Guinea.

Additionally, the exercise provided a test bench for the planning and execution of coordinated strike capabilities as well as an assessment of some of our planning assumptions. The exercise is generally adjudged successful”, he said.

A total of 12 Nigerian Navy ships, two helicopters and a detachment of the Special Boat Services were deployed for the just concluded. exercise.

These include capital ships like NNS Prosperity, NNS OKPABANA and NNS KARADUWA.

Other participating ships were: NNS ANDONI, NNS NGURU, NNS EKULU, NNS OSUN, NNS BOMADI, NNS OSE, NNS DORINA, TUG DOLPHIN RIMA, Tug DOLPHIN Mira.

The CNS representative who disclosed that seven onboard landings with the Nigerian Navy helicopters were carried out, during the exercise, informed that throughout the duration of the exercise, there were no hitches,

This, he pointed out, was a clear indication of the Nigerian Navy’s combat readiness against illegalities on the nation’s territorial waters.