In a move to consolidate the gains of building the first indigenous warship in Africa, the Nigerian Navy is to commence the construction of a new 38 metre Seaward Defence Boat (SDB).
The Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Dele Ezeoba has given his consent for the commencement of the warship. In the same vein, the design for the project has been approved by the Naval Headquarters.
Rear Admiral James Boer, who made the disclosure of this tremendous feat yesterday at the NNS BEECROFT parade ground, during the first anniversary of NNS ANDONI- the first indigenous warship built by the navy-said the international certifications by relevant agencies have begun.
It would be recalled that President Goodluck Jonathan had on June 1 2012 commissioned a 31metre Seaward Defence Boat at the Naval Dockyard in Lagos.
Admiral Boer, who is the Admiral Superintendent of Naval Dockyard Limited, added that NDL was in the fore front of technological breakthroughs and innovations in the Nigerian Navy. He further stressed that NDL is diversifying efforts into various aspects of activities that would include marine construction and fabrications in the maritime sector and the offshore operations of the oil and gas industry.
The Special Guest of Honour at the occasion, Engineer Kassin Alli, President, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) solicited for better funding for the Nigerian Navy to enable it achieve its full potentials in its quest to redefine engineering in the country.
He said, “Nigerian Navy should be given the resources because with what they have done now, they can upgrade it and graduate to a higher level of building bigger ships. By the time they do this over a long period of time, there might not be the need to import ships. This will equally save us a lot of money for the government.
“The maintenance of the ship would also be cheaper because you have people that know the ship and can adequately maintain it without going to a foreign country to get it refitted. That is capacity building and would make our country great. It is not how much money you have in foreign reserve that make a nation great, but your capacity to handle your issues, especially technology-based issues.”
The Commanding Officer of the ship, Commander Semiu Adepegba reiterated that NNS ANDONI, which has maintained a constant presence at sea, has been able to effectively check illegal bunker, piracy, sea robbery, illegal fishing, hijacking, arms smuggling in line with the Nigerian Navy constitutional roles.
Besides, he noted, the ship has contributed immensely to the operational status of the navy, including training and diplomatic roles.
Since her commissioning and subsequently her first trip at sea on the 28 June, 2012, the ship has attained 800 hours underwater and covered over 6000 nautical miles. In addition, she has interrogated 112 vessels and arrested 5, amongst whom is the Russian Seadiver that was stocked with arms and ammunition.