Hyacinth Chinweuba
To enhance effectiveness of the OMI MIMO Sea exercise, the Nigerian Navy has deployed six ships, two helicopters and the Nigerian Navy Special Boat Service (SBS) alongside two Deep Blue Project ships.
The Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Western Naval Command, Rea admiral Jason Gbassa made this known during the flag off of the Fourth Quarter Western Naval Command Sea Exercise OMI MIMO scheduled for Wednesday to Friday.
The FOC said that the exercise would enable the Command to assess the state of readiness and other operational status of ships in her fleet.
“The exercise will also provide the platform to align our training objectives with our operational requirements in furtherance of the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) Vice Adm. Awwal Gambo’s vision and mission for the Nigerian Navy,” Gbassa said.
According to him, the participating ships include Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) PROSPERITY, NNS EKULU, NNS NGURU, NNS ABA, NNS OSUN, NNS OSE and Deep Blue vessels ABUJA and LAGOS.
“Some of the exercises that have been scheduled include anti-piracy operations, oil rig protection, fleet manoeuvre, communication exercise, Vessel Board Search and Seizure, Search and Rescue among others.
“Ex OMI MIMO will provide invaluable maritime combat experiences that will help the Command to stay relevant in our quest to dominate our entire maritime environment.
“We will continue to sustain and improve on these efforts in order to attain the desired goal,” he said.
The FOC said that collaborative efforts have resulted in some high-profile arrests which were currently either being investigated or handed over to relevant security agencies for prosecution.
Gbassa said that the effective use of the Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) facilities had helped the Command to be precise in its targeting and effective hunt for rogue vessels.
“The Command enjoyed the support of other Commands and military formations as well as decisive collaboration from maritime stakeholders, both local and international, to enhance its policing duty.
“These were achieved through series of planned and coordinated operations targeted at specific decisive conditions and its accompanying special effects in our maritime line of operation.”