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Chief of Naval Staff, CNS, Rear Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo, has hit the ground running in his new assignment as 21st indigenous head of the Nigeria Navy. He says he would further professionalise the Navy by making the operatives better trained and more efficient on the one hand. On the other, he would shore up Nigeria’s economy by checking piracy, crude oil theft, and illegal refining of petroleum products.

According to a statement by Suleman Dahun, navy commodore, Gambo unveiled his vision and mission statements to guide his administration Tuesday during his maiden meeting with principal staff officers, flag officers commanding, and commanders of autonomous units of the Nigerian Navy at Naval Headquarters, Abuja.

He said his vision is: “To leverage on all factors of national location, technology, training, teamwork and synergy to re-energise the Nigerian Navy and enhance her as a well-motivated and ready naval force in the discharge of her constitutional mandate and other assigned tasks in fulfillment of national security objectives.”

To achieve this vision, he revealed that his administration would focus on some key drivers. Top of these is personnel welfare, which would be accorded high priority “to enhance patriotism, integrity, productivity, innovation, commitment and dedication.” His administration will also focus on “human capacity development through result-oriented training for enhanced professionalism as well as strengthening logistics support and maintenance capabilities to sustain equipment serviceability and platform availability.”

“We must understand that the ‘man’ remains the most critical and important factor in military operations,” he affirmed.

Secondly, the Nigerian Navy under his leadership would “reinforce the culture of self-sufficiency through sustained investment in Research and Developments and prudent management of resources, promote inter-Service cooperation, and forge strategic partnerships with MDAs, credible maritime stakeholders as well as collaboration engagements with international partners.”

Furthermore, the administration will promote and sustain the Nigerian Navy core values of “Integrity, Professionalism and Teamwork.”

Gambo stated that his Mission is” ”To optimize the deployment of the Nigerian Navy in the performance of her constitutional roles and the undertaking of assigned tasks while promptly responding with commensurate actions to other emerging national security challenges”.

Earlier in his remarks, the CNS said the overall target of his administration is to achieve immediate positive transformation in the nation’s security especially in the maritime domain. He urged that all hands must be on deck to achieve that. He affirmed his zero tolerance for indiscipline and criminal activities.

To this end, he said the established policies and measures to sanction identified Nigerian Navy personnel that collude with economic saboteurs, drug traffickers/barons, bandits, kidnappers and armed robbers shall be overhauled and strengthened.

He warned personnel against any act capable of tarnishing the image of the Nigeria Navy as such acts would be met with heavy sanctions to serve as deterrent to others. On the other hand, Nigerian Navy personnel that exhibit high integrity and positive attributes which portray the Navy in good light shall be rewarded handsomely.

He said his administration shall place premium on human capacity development through higher training and education.

He directed all ongoing operations in the Nigerian Navy to check piracy, sea robbery, crude oil theft and illegal refining of petroleum products, to continue in earnest. He rejected the resurging incidents of piracy and sea robbery within Nigerian waters and directed all operations commanders to sustain aggressive clearance operations to make suspected militants, cults and pirate camps non-conducive for any nefarious activities to thrive.

Rear Admiral Gambo assured that the Nigerian Navy shall give the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic the seriousness it deserves. He called on all Nigerian Navy personnel to remain safe and adhere to all relevant Nigerian Navy and national protocols.

The CNS called for complete loyalty from all subordinate commanders. In line with all these and Mr. President’s mandate, he highlighted his immediate targets to actualise within the first 90 days in office.

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