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Navy deploys ships, helicopters, others to bolster security in Gulf of Guinea
The Nigerian Navy on Saturday said that it had deployed six ships, two tugboats, two helicopters and a Nigerian Airforce ATR42 aircraft toward addressing maritime challenges in the Gulf of Guniea.
The Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, said this during the inauguration of the 11th Exercise Obangame Express 2021.
He said that the multinational maritime exercise was birthed for regional maritime safety and security.
The inaugurated Exercise Obangame Express 2021 was held on board the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS), THUNDER, at the Naval Dockyard Ltd. , on Victoria Island, Lagos.
Gambo said that the exercise was an annual multinational maritime exercise borne out of the need for Gulf of Guniea Navies to work together for regional maritime safety and security.
“This is as a result of the huge resources and vast potential being continuously undermined by multifaceted domestic and cross border threats.
“This challenges the dwindling prosperity of member states,” he said.
The CNS said that the exercise would present an ample opportunity for the Nigerian Navy to work together with other national and regional navies in the spirit of the Yaounde Code of Conduct.
“This code is designed to improve operational readiness, maritime domain awareness, information sharing practices and tactical interdiction expertise.
“This will enhance the collective capabilities of Gulf of Guniea and West African nations to counter sea based illicit activities.
“It will also enhance the operational capability of the Nigeria Navy in its fight against various forms of maritime crime through information and intelligence sharing,” he said.
Gambo said that the sustainance of this exercise was critical to Nigeria’s national interest, given the huge contributions of the nation’s strategic maritime resources to national prosperity and development.
“The exercise aims at contributing to the freedom of navigation in the Gulf of Guniea by strengthening coordination in the fight against insecurity for socioeconomic activities among member states to thrive.
“This is in line with the Nigerian Navy mandate and other treaties which Nigeria is a signatory too,” he said.
The CNS appreciated the Government of the United States through the U.S. African Command and other international partners for facilitating and sustaining Exercise Obangame Express over the years.
Gambo also thanked the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, for his untiring support to the development of the Nigerian Navy.
Also, the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Western Command, Rear Admiral Jason Gbassa, said that the exercise was focusing on maritime crime hotspots to improve maritime security operations in the Gulf of Guniea.
“The exercise is an avenue for participating nations within the Gulf of Gunea and its international partners to collaborate toward addressing maritime security concerns toward the gulf.
“The exercise comes against the backdrop of piracy cases, illegal fishing, illegal exploration of mineral resources, proliferation of small arms and light weapons and other local and international threats within the gulf.
“Therefore, maintaining Nigeria’s strategic deterrence posture and influence in the maritime environment is critical to our economic prosperity and regional stability,” he said.
Gbassa said that the fleet which include: NNS THUNDER, PROSPERITY, KARADUWA, NGURU, EKULU, ESE, and Tugboat Dolphin Rima and Tugboat Mira would conduct several antipiracy operation exercises.
“The fleet will conduct several exercises which will also include: protection of oil and gas facilities, fleet manueovers, communication, vessel board search and rescue among others.
“This exercise will be conducted alongside French Navy Ship, Dixmude, in conjunction with other navies that will be participating.
“The exercise will give additional impetus to our overall operational combatant experiences to ensure that our nation’s territorial integrity is maintained in line with the Nigerian Navy constitutional mandate,” he said.
The FOC urged the public, as partners in progress, to be free to divulge credible information to the units in their localities to get rid of all forms of criminality within our space.
Also, Ms Claire Pierangelo, the U.S. Consular General, said that a secured maritime environment is integral to other dimensions of security.
Pierangelo said that maritime threats in the Gulf of Guinea had continued to evolve and were increasingly becoming difficult to address.
“Maritime security is, infact, the backbone of healthy commerce; it promotes economic development and it supports the sustainable management of all resources on which this entire region depends.
“The exercise is designed to enhance collective capabilities of all participating nation’s to counter piracy, illegal fishing and other sea based illicit activities.
“The exercise expresses one of the many ways that the United States and like minded partners ally with Nigeria and the Atlantic Africa to address maritime security,” she said.
The Nigerian Railway Corporation has announced the suspension of services between Delta and Kogi due to the unsatisfactory nature of the track conditions from Ujevwu in Delta State to Itakpe in Kogi State.
This was disclosed in a notice titled “Public Announcement” which was sent to customers, indicating that the agency plans to resume operations on Monday, July 8, 2024.
The suspension, effective from Friday, was attributed to an obstruction on the track.
“This is to officially notify our esteemed passengers that the Warri-Itakpe Train will not run today Friday, 5th July 2024 due to the obstruction we have on our track.
“We shall resume our normal train services on Monday 8th July 2024. Passengers who already booked their tickets online will be refunded.
“All inconveniences are highly regretted. Thank you,” the statement added.
Ogun State Head of Service, Mr. Kehinde Onasanya has said that the State is leading other states of the Federation in Ease of Doing Business, owing to the provision of requisite infrastructural facilities through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects in the State.
Onasanya made this known while delivering a keynote address at the launch of a book titled “Practical Guide to Public Private Partnership Arrangement in Nigeria” authored by Pastor Adebisi Sogunle and held at the Waterfalls Events Centre, Ikeja, Lagos.
According to him, since the State passed the PPP law in 2019, the initiative has facilitated projects with road networks rehabilitated and expanded as well as reconstruction of the Ijebu-Ode-Epe Expressway among others.
He explained that the collaborative agreement between the public and private sectors was predicated on the strengths of both sectors to achieve outcomes that neither could effectively accomplish alone.
“Under the visionary leadership of His Excellency, Prince Dapo Abiodun, Ogun State has harnessed the potential of PPP to drive significant developments and give Ogun State focused and qualitative governance and as well create the necessary enabling environment for a public private sector partnership.
“This is fundamental to the creation of an enduring economic development and individual prosperity of the people of Ogun. Let me, therefore, highlight some of the notable projects of the State Government and their impacts through PPP:
“The Ogun State Agro Cargo Airport: Developed in partnership with the private sector, the Agro Cargo Airport is designed to facilitate the export of agricultural products, thereby boosting the agro-industrial sector.
ii.Ogun State Housing Development Projects: Several housing projects, including the Prince Court Estate, have been developed through PPP arrangements to address the housing deficit.
iii.Ogun State Energy Generation Projects: Lisabi Mini Power was developed in partnership with the private sector to generate 4.5mw Power for transmission and distribution within the State to Government core areas.
“Other projects of the State Government in the pipeline through PPPs include the Olokola Deep Sea Port, Sagamu Trailer Park, Sagamu Stadium, Hillcrest Estate, PMB Estate, Lomiro Oil Palm, OGSG Pharmaceuticals, OGSG Forestry project, Gateway Hotel Ota, Inland Dry Port at Kajola/Papalanto, amongst others,” the HoS said.
While congratulating the author of the book for his contributions to the discourse on PPP, Onasanya said the valuable resource will no doubt guide policy makers, practitioners and investors in navigating the complexities of PPP arrangements in Nigeria and urged public servants as well as private sector partners to key into the messages of the book and apply its lessons in their endeavours.
On his part, the former Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the book is timely because government alone cannot maintain all its assets, which requires the PPP arrangements, saying the arrangement paved the way for some major road infrastructure with particular reference to Ogun State and commended the Ogun State Government for keying into the initiative, which has created more job opportunities for the people.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the event, the National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Dr. Chris Iziguzor said the PPP initiative has assisted Ogun State in achieving much in the area of infrastructural development and added that the arrangement, in turn, brought in more investors and provided job opportunities for the citizens.
In his response, the author, Pst. Adebisi Sogunle, while appreciating all guests for the support he got, said he wrote the book based on the experience he garnered while working on a PPP arranged programme in Cross River State.
He said the book will help in examining the roles of stakeholders because they have the responsibility to maintain the environment when political, economic, and administrative concerns arise while partnering.
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Reverse 40 per cent import fees on LPG to encourage local manufacturers – Techno Oil boss urges FG
Mrs Nkechi Obi, Group Managing Director (GMD), Techno Oil Limited has urged the Federal Government if Nigeria to reverse its policies on the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders.
Obi made her displeasure known during a panel session at the 2024 Nigeria Oil and Gas (NOG) conference in Abuja.
Speaking, Obi pleaded with the government to reverse the zero import duties placed on the importation of LPG cylinders and restore the initial 40 per cent import duties, to discourage importation.
“We need policy reversal on that to encourage local producers. The unofficial explanation we are getting from some customs officers is that the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) which the government wants to encourage its usage in Nigeria, has the same Harmonised System (HS) code with LPG.”
“So, the import benefits placed on CNG equipment eventually affected LPG equipment; that is why they were tied together on the zero import duties.”
“Harmonised System codes are commonly used throughout the import and export process for the classification of goods.”
“For me, we don’t produce CNG cylinders in Nigeria because it involves advanced technology but we produce LPG cylinders here.”
“For us to produce CNG cylinders, we have to change one or two machines, and we expect the government to encourage us to upscale our technology to 32, which we are planning to do.” She lamented.
Obi also called on the Federal Government to separate LPG HS code from that of CNG, to ensure that importers of LPG pay higher import duties, and to also enable the government to continue with its efforts to make CNG affordable in the country with zero import duties.
“The previous government protected those producing cylinders, so that import will not overshadow local production; they did that to encourage local manufacturing but when this government came into existence, policy changed.”
“We only enjoyed that policy for six months before it was scrapped and replaced with the new “zero import duties” policy.”
“Definitely, we have to produce CNG cylinders and the government needs to consider those that will go into that production. But if government policy is killing LPG cylinder production that we are doing, it will be very difficult to enter into CNG cylinder production.”
“So, if there is anybody who can venture into CNG cylinder production, we the producers of LPG cylinders are here to do that and it is in our plan.”
“But we are not encouraged to do it because of what happened to us in the LPG cylinder production because of the frustrating policy that is encouraging its importation,” Obi added.
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