Survey Ship Will Generate Revenue Through Charting – Naval Chief

Naval chief has said that survey ship will generate revenue through charting, The Nation report.

Survey Ship Will Generate Revenue Through Charting - Naval Chief

The Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo has said the Nigerian Navy (NN) would generate revenue by deploying the newly acquired hydrographic survey vessel, NNS LANA for charting of west, central African countries’ waters and other related tasks.

He made this known after the vessel was received at the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) BEECROFT jetty in Lagos.

Vice Admiral Gambo said the Hydrographer of the Navy has received approval to produce navigation charts for countries in West and Central Africa, a job that was hitherto performed by the United Kingdom Hydrographer.

According to the CNS, those countries and other maritime stakeholders would have to pay for the charts which they require for safer navigation.

He said the ship would be deployed in Nigerian waters and anywhere her services were required inorder to boost hydrographic efforts within the maritime space.

“Where we get patronage from the Gulf of Guinea and other parts as may be, we will render services at a cost. So, she is a revenue generation asset for the country and the Nigeria Navy and other maritime agencies.

“The Nigerian hydrographer has been given approval to produce navigation charts for countries in west and southern Africa which of course, were produced for us by the UK Hydrographer.

“Therefore, these people and other maritime stakeholders will now have to pay for such chart for their safe navigation.

“The maintenance routine is same as other vessels. For this specialise and very sophisticated vessel, we have cautiously procured consumables and other spare parts needed that will last till the next two to three years. Of course, the usual dockyard routine will also be observed,” said Gambo.

The Nation reports that the specialised ship which was built in France, departed the OCEA Shipyard on April 16 for Nigeria and arrived at the Lagos Fairway Buoy around 6am on Monday after completing a cumulative 440 hours sea time, 4005 nautical miles at a speed of 10knots per hour.

Highlighting the importance of the ship, Vice Admiral Gambo said it will soon join other NN ships at seas to contribute to efforts in the defence of the nation’s maritime environment.

The CNS said that the federal government of Nigeria had embraced the blue economy initiative inline with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal-14 agenda.

“The agenda entails the sustainable exploration and exploitation of vast resources in the nation’s maritime environment. The provision of quality hydrographic services is key to the development of the various sectors of the blue economy.”

“Therefore, the acquisition of this survey vessel is an affirmation of the federal government’s commitment towards the nation’s economic development,” he said.

Gambo said that the Nigerian Navy would collaborate with other maritime stakeholders to actualise the country’s vision of developing a sustainable economy that would contribute to the nation’s socio-economic prosperity.

“I thank the President and Commander In Chief of the Armed Forces, Mr Muhammadu Buhari for his enormous support to the Nigerian Navy’s recapitalisation effort.

“I am indeed grateful to the almighty God for granting the ship and her crew safe passage,” he said.

In his welcome address, the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Western Naval Command (WNC), Rear Admiral Jason Gbassa said NN’s capacity to conduct hydrographic survey that would assure safety of naval and merchant traffic over the sea was significantly impaired with the absence of a hydrographic ship in NN fleet.

“With NNS LANA joining the fleet, going forward, the maritime industry can be assured of getting improved and reliable hydrographic data and information from the NN to guide maritime activities…The ship will contribute to safety in the maritime industry as well as to Nigeria’s national security,” he said.

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