Nigerian Navy has assured Nigerians of its sustained fight against illegal refining, piracy and pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta.
Its Director of Information (DINFO), Commodore Adedotun Ayo-Vaughan, made the disclosure, yesterday, during a courtesy visit to the Rutam House corporate headquarters of The Guardian.
He explained that five months into the delisting of Nigeria from susceptible nations by the International Maritime Piracy Bureau, the force had successfully secured the nation’s onshore against oil theft and reduced illegal refining activities across the oil areas.
Ayo-Vaughan stated that there “are over 100 oil fields, and the organisation is doing all it can to get daily and situational reports from different regions, while it remains committed to utilising its awareness domain system in curbing onshore thefts.”
Speaking on efforts of the force to reduce maritime crime rates, the spokesman submitted: “The Navy has a maritime domain asset that consists of falcon eye alignment and the regional maritime capability project. They are both an American and Israeli technology. It is like CCTV. You see what is going on in the front yard when you put it there. The falcon eye alignment consists of camera raiders that allow us to see at one glance continuously uninterrupted and everything that is happening in our maritime space.”
He revealed that recently, “our domain awareness system detected the presence of the MT Heroic Idun vessel trying to load crude oil without clearance on Nigeria’s waters.”
He also revealed the move by the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo, to tackle cocorruption through close monitoring and constant rotation of officers.
The Guardian Managing Director, Martins Oloja, while applauding the Navy for efforts against sea piracy, urged the force to be transparent in information dissemination and to be accountable to the people.
