Navy defends establishment of base in Kano

Amid raging controversies over the establishment of a naval base in landlocked Kano State, the Nigerian Navy has said the new Logistics College was established to aid its ongoing operations in the Northern parts of the country.

Moreover, it argued that Kano State is not the only landlocked location with naval establishment.

The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Zubairu Gambo, who is incidentally from Kano State, explained that the Nigerian Navy has a Finance and  Logistics College in Owerenta between Aba in Abia State and Owerri in Imo State, but due to growth and development imperatives was split into two and the Logistics College moved to Kano.

Gambo, who gave the clarification during a zoom media parley with senior media executives, said the reason for establishing the Logistics College in Kano was purely administrative.

According to the Chief of Naval Staff who was represented at the meeting by Rear Admiral Abraham Adaji, Chief of Training and Operations, “what the Navy established in Kano is a Logistics College.”

He said, “ granted the establishment of the Logistics College has thrown up a lot of reactions but it has also afforded the opportunity to share some light on our establishments across the nation and some of the programmes that we have as far as developing capacity and providing support to civil authority in Nigeria is concerned.

“For clarity, the Nigerian Navy has a Finance and Logistics College that is located in Owerenta, somewhere between Aba and Owerri, that college is responsible for the training of both personnel in the areas of logistics and finance but due to growth and development imperatives, it was considered that the colleges should be separated and the Logistics College is now moved to Kano.

“ So what we are establishing in Kano is the Logistics College and the Finance College remains in Owerenta.”

Gambo continued, “before now, Owerenta is not the only landlocked location with naval establishment, we also had Provost and Regulatory School in Makurdi where we train our personnel in the area of naval provost duties but I will also like to clarify that it is not only these bases that mark our presence in the north. The Nigerian Navy is heavily involved in the anti-insurgency and anti-terrorism and also the internal security operations in the north.

“In the Northeast where we have Operation Hadin Kai, the Navy has over 170 personnel that are fighting alongside the Army and the Air Force to combat the threat that we face. Equally in the North West where we have the Operation Hadarin Daji, the Navy has over 250 personnel that are fighting to counter banditry and all the other issues of insecurity there. In the North Central, we also have about a hundred men fighting alongside our colleagues to combat kidnapping and banditry and all the issues relating to insecurity.

“Operation Safe Corridor, the outfit responsible for the management of surrendered terrorists and bandits which is working with other government agencies, the Navy is also represented there. We have about 15 personnel working there.

“We also have our presence in Operation Safe Haven, the operation going on in the Plateau and Southern Kaduna to combat issues relating to herders and farmers in the area, so it is not just Kano that we are present in the north.

“Let me also add that the Logistics College that was established in Kano was established alongside other Naval bases that will be performing full military operations. At the Oguta Lake, the Nigerian Navy is establishing a Forward Operating base because of the increasing activities of IPOB na ESN as well as sabotage of our oil and gas facilities and we are working alongside other agencies in the area to combat these threats.

“Also in Lagos, the Lekki axis, the Nigerian Navy is also establishing a base. Lekki is a stretch that holds a lot of investments critical to the well-being of Nigeria. The petrol that we consume in Nigeria land in the Lagos offshore and from there it is transferred to other towns and distributed for consumption across the length and breadth of Nigeria.

Significantly, the Dangote refinery is coming on stream, it is not just a refinery but is is coming with a fertilizer plant and of course there are several other development along that corridor that is worth billions of dollars that require protection, the Nigerian Navy is establishing a base to attend to this.It is just a coincidence that the Chief of Naval Staff is from Kano State.

(Courtesy The Nation)