In a move towards strengthening  Nigeria’s security, the Federal Government  has received two Special Mission Vessels (SMV), geared to ridding the country’s waters of criminal activities.

The Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), took delivery of the Special Mission Vessels under the Deep Blue Project. The vessel, DB Lagos and DB Abuja, which arrived the country recently are equipped with sophisticated intelligence gathering capability for timely detection and response to illegal activities in the Nigerian maritime domain.

“Piracy is an act inimical to the growth of the Nigerian maritime sector and we are prepared, more than ever before, to give it all it takes to end this nefarious act,” said the Chief of Naval Staff, Ibok Ete-Ibas.

Ete-Ibas who was represented by the Chief Security Officer, Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral M. M. Bashir added that the officers who would man the vessels will be given adequate training under the Deep Blue Project so that the special features of the vessels can be adequately utilised for the purpose of combating maritime illegalities.

For his part, the Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, said pirates and other criminals on the country’s maritime domain up to the Gulf of Guinea, would soon meet their waterloo, with the arrival and installation of the critical assets under the Deep Blue Project.

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Dakuku, who was represented by the agency’s Executive Director, Operations, Rotimi Fashakin, hinted that aside of these two special mission vessels, 10 Fast Interceptor Boats have also arrived the country and seven more are expected later in the year.

“Today marks a new dawn for a more secure and stable maritime environment in Nigeria. This milestone in asset delivery inches us closer to full operational take-off of the Deep Blue Project, hence it marks a huge victory for the Nigerian maritime sector in the fight against maritime insecurity,” he said. The DG revealed that the DB Abuja and DB Lagos, which are built to be intelligently operated, also served as mother vessels to Fast Intervention crafts that are able to respond to distress calls swiftly. He noted that each of the interceptor boats has a combined engine capacity of 900HP and can do up to 55knots.

According to him, each of the vessels would be commanded by a Navy captain with full complement of naval personnel.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) had granted approval for a holistic maritime security architecture, which is a multi-pronged approach towards fighting piracy.