Strolling casually, a bit reluctantly but patriotically nonetheless in the last quarter of last year, into sub-Saharan Africa this blog went into hiatus. One that saw it hibernating longer than was planned or expected.
Speaking of hibernation, that is precisely the trend in these parts. Many things hibernate in West Africa. In Nigeria, government institutions for the most part, go into hibernation and splutter temporarily back to life only to go into oblivion again. This trait pervades all strata of government in Africa’s most populous country and taints all and every activity. It serves no such fancy purpose as Pep Guardiola’s sabbatical to “recharge his batteries.” Far from it. Rather it is usually a descent into a sustained state of stupor that is relentlessly fuelled by corruption and a puzzling unwillingness to do the obviously right thing. In the past certain institutions where regarded as sacred and so vital to national security that they just had to be wide awake. Well not anymore. The Nigerian Navy is hibernating and slowly drifting into oblivion.
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It’s a new year. A bit too early to gripe right? Wrong! In Nigeria you are prone to constant frustration. The provocation is incessant and unrelenting especially in the Maritime sector. One of the reasons I blog is because it has a cathartic effect on me. I can practically vent and tear my hair out all I want. So allow me some cathartic bliss in an environment lacking bliss.
I made an allegation that the Nigerian Navy is slowing going into hibernation. Could this be true? Yes. Who’s to blame? Mostly Government! One Federal. The other an individual (We answer funny names here too Mr Stone). Individuals are named Government by their parents and you know names do follow people right? Here is fodder for my canon shots.
First what is a Navy’s role? “The strategic offensive role of a navy is projection of force into areas beyond a country's shores (for example, to protect sea-lanes, ferry troops, or attack other navies, ports, or shore installations). The strategic defensive purpose of a navy is to frustrate seaborne projection-of-force by enemies. The strategic task of the navy also may incorporate nuclear deterrence by use of nuclear missiles”
Let’s ignore the third role for the simple reason that Nigeria has never been a nuclear power. Take the first two. Projection of force around and beyond the country’s shores and frustration of seaborne projection of force by enemies-how have we fared? Dismal at best.
The components of these roles include: Sovereignty Protection in Territorial Waters; Protection of Marine Environment and Control of Marine Pollution; Fisheries Protection and Observation of Fishing Regulations; Resource Protection in the EEZ; Anti-smuggling; Search and Rescue; Control of Illegal Immigration; Anti-piracy and Counter Terrorism.
Consider Sovereign Protection in Territorial Waters, Anti-Piracy & Counter Terrorism- Epic Fail.
-27 attacks off the Nigerian coast in 2012 up from 10 in 2011 according to the International Maritime Bureau as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
-In terms of insurance risk, a rating by insurers which puts us at par with Somalia.
-A diminished capacity to acquire naval assets and deploy them effectively. We now rely on expired end of life hand outs from superpowers to build our fleet as corruption takes centre stage. In January 2011, the U.S. gave us an inept liability of a monster 378-foot, 3,000-ton Hamilton-class Coast Guard cutter, which we promptly rechristened NNS Thunder.
I would tell you an open secret. Our dear Thunder hardly whimpers, talk less of striking. It has a huge decrepit belly that consumes fuel with such gusto as to tear a hole the size of a local government’s allocation each time it moves. So this old amphibian has become mostly a crippled land mammal, much like our Navy these days.
Still on Naval assets, “Six years ago, Nigeria's Presidential Implementation Committee on Maritime Safety and Security ordered three drones, along with five radars, from a subsidiary of Israel's Aeronautics Defense Systems Ltd. as part of a €215 million ($280 million) coast guard undertaking, according to a copy of the contract reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.”
The drones were a huge joke! one that took and is capable of taking any reasonable person’s frustrations a jolt higher. They were blind. Yes practically so, cos they lacked aerial cameras! They were supposed to be deployed for surveillance. Yet they lacked eyes! What’s a guard without an eye? An unsightly mannequin perhaps. A mere decoration not worth a second glance. The blind drones were not completely delivered cos yeah you guessed right, some people somewhere felt the money would look and feel better in their pockets. The unfortunate blind ones that were delivered were sent to a hangar in landlocked Central Nigeria, quite a distance from our shores were they are so badly needed!
As if all these ain’t bad enough. Wait for this. What I term the final demystification of the Navy. The final shred of every pretence to pride. The casual concessioning of our Maritime security to a once upon a very short time fugitive and most wanted man in Nigeria but now stupendously rich billionaire militant- Government Ekpumopolo a.k.a Tompolo. The deal worth an estimated $103,400,000 (N15 Billion Nigerian Naira) for a 10 year period was awarded to Messrs Global West Vessel Specialist Nigeria Limited, GWVSL (Tompolo’s rumoured company) in early 2012. GWVSL, and not government would provide the entire $103.4 million fund and would recoup its investment simply by surpassing NIMASA’s annual revenue collection profile. In effect Tompolo (an individual) is mandated to generate revenue from our waterways that should surpass NIMASA’s revenue benchmark and then he can keep the excess.
The icing on this very obese cake is that by the terms of the concession, it is renewable for a further two term of five years. One of the terms of the concession is that GWVSL would provide platforms for effective policing of Nigeria’s maritime domain, thus effectively reducing the Nigerian Navy to a mere cosmetic appendage in terms of maritime security!
What a concession! One so unprecedented and wide ranging in scope that each time I think of it, I almost hyperventilate.
Even a toddler knows the national security implications of such an obtuse move. So I’ll save you the rant. Though a realisation that the current administration did this via a memo which replaced late President Yar Adua’s more sensible proposal of creating a coastal guard, comprising all security agencies, to man the country’s maritime domain, is capable of making one go bunkers!
You can read all about the concession and the history of the beneficiary here.
I’m getting exasperated again. So let’s take a breather. Here’s President Jonathan inspecting a Naval guard of honour on land, where government policies seems to be perpetuating them in.
Then the launch of the new camouflage combat uniforms of the Navy last year which in the words of a top Naval chief Vice Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim was necessitated by the increasing roles of the Nigerian Navy in “Internal Security and curbing insurgencies in different parts of the country.” Need further proof of the “hinterlandrization” of our Navy? 
Protection of Marine Environment and Control of Marine Pollution; Fisheries Protection and Observation of Fishing Regulations etc.-fared any better? Oh please spare me! You be the judge of that. I think by now you have gotten my drift.
Enjoy the remainder of your week.
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