Odimmegwa Johnpeter/Abuja
The Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla, has advocated for the establishment of Special Maritime Courts to hasten justice delivery and act as deterrence to illegal maritime activities.
The courts, according to Naval Chief when established, will be solely dedicated and lead to effective and efficient justice delivery, resulting in better outcomes for law enforcement.
Director Naval Information, Commodore A Adams-Aliu in a statement said Vice Admiral Ogalla made the call at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) in Enugu State while delivery a lecture at the Faculty of Social Sciences 2024 Distinguished Annual Public Lecture, with the title: “Safeguarding Nigeria’s Blue Economy Potentials: The Role of the Nigerian Navy.”
Vice Admiral Ogalla noted that cases of maritime offences handed over to the police and various prosecuting agencies had suffered delays due to caseloads of general courts or caseloads of matters being treated by the various agencies.
He said that the Blue Economy is crucial to the economic prosperity of Nigeria, particularly as our population grows and the global supply chain becomes increasingly integrated.
Highlighting the huge potentials of Nigeria’s Blue Economy which encapsulated in the resources within the nation’s maritime domain, the Naval Chief said these resources include oil and gas assets valued at over 40bn USD with the potentials to increase to about 120bn USD.
He added that it is estimated that Nigeria’s Maritime Domain holds an estimated 36 billion barrels of oil and 182 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves.
According to the CNS, these resources need to be effectively protected & efficiently harnessed to bolster Nigeria’s economy. Hence, the NN employs several strategies that are yielding the desired effects.
These strategies include the Total Spectrum Maritime Strategy (TSMS), NN Trinity of Action comprising Surveillance, Response Capability, and Law Enforcement.
They also include the NN’s Operational Responses, particularly “OPERATION DELTA SANITY,” which was launched in January 2024 to eliminate Crude Oil Theft. This operation has denied oil thieves a huge amount of crude oil and refined products worth billions of naira. It has also led to the arrest of over 35 ships, 65 suspects, and deactivation of over 827 Illegal refining sites.
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