Posted by By Kingsley Omonobi on
NEW Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ganiyu Adekeye has vowed, to continue the war on illegal bunkering of Nigeria's crude oil and maritime resources, started by his predecesor in office even as he warned that collaborators of unpatriotic activities weighing the nation down from within the Navy will be shown the way out if they fail to turn new leaf.
ABUJA. - NEW Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ganiyu Adekeye has vowed, to continue the war on illegal bunkering of Nigeria's crude oil and maritime resources, started by his predecesor in office even as he warned that collaborators of unpatriotic activities weighing the nation down from within the Navy will be shown the way out if they fail to turn new leaf.
Admiral Adekeye who officially takes over office today, at the Naval Headquarters, Abuja, spoke to Vanguard exclusively on his mission and vision for the Navy over the weekend.
According to him, ' My priority is to sustain the tempo of the rehabilitation and repairs that my predecessor started and promote the vision of our ships and men being able to get back to sea. We will sustain the present high-level standard in the Navy."
'As you know, the Navy in the last three years has wage a relentless war against the activities of those who do not mean well for the well being of this nation. Anybody thinking that the situation will change, should have their head re-examined."
'It is impossible to slow down the war on illegal bunkering that has been started. Because slowing down means a lot not only for me as a person, but for the Navy itself. What I am talking about here is the image of the Navy. It has a lot of effect on even the way we operate as a Navy because we have developed a sort of operational method of working which is tailored at possitive achievement. So slowing down means retrogression."
Emphasizing the need to sustain the war against sabotuers of the exclusive economic zones, Admiral Adekeye said, 'Infact these are tasks we have given to officers and ratings. We have re-orientated them to a level, to deprive themselves of the aquisition of cheap and illegal money and make reasonable contribution towards the development of the Navy and its operations."
'I am convinced that the corporate image of the Navy will benefit a lot in this regard because if you listen to what Admiral Afolayan had been saying all along, the economy of this nation depends on oil. If some illegal bunkers had been milking the nation of a huge proportion of it unaccounted for, what it means is that we are mortgaging our existence to a tiny few. So not fighting it means we are actually undermining the integrity of the nation and I don't see myself contributing to that."
On how he intended to tackle the problem of collaborators within the Navy, who provide cover for bunkerers and those who siphon oil through pipeline vandalization, the new CNS said, 'We will use the internal mechanism that has been used extensively by the outgoing Chief himself. We will separate the whiff from the chaff."
'To achieve this result, I must let you know that there are internal mechanisms for dealing with such matters. There are divisional chains of management. There are guidelines on responsibilities of junior officers over their ratings. Guidelines on responsibilities of senior officers over their juniors and the responsibilities of Commanders over their officers and so on up till the Chief of Naval Staff. Such mechanism is what we are going to use to deal with internal saboteurs as well as fish out internal enemies."
Commenting on his appointment and how he received the news, the immediate past Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Naval Command said, 'As a professional Navy officer you always look forward to making progress in your career and getting to the zenith of the career is every professional military officer's dream. I feel very happy. But I see it as a challenge rather than achievement because if you have to step into the shoes of somebody like Admiral Afolayan, the challenge is daunting. I can only pray and work hard to be able to achieve the same result".