Nigeria President inaugurates new warships at Lagos naval dockyard

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated recently acquired warships and a seaward defense boat built locally by naval engineers at the naval dockyard in Lagos to bolster the Navy’s efforts in the fight against maritime criminality in the Gulf of Guinea region.

Speaking at the event, President Buhari said the new inductions to the Naval fleet would boost their capability in securing Nigeria’s maritime domain.

"We should note that we are in a critical period where our country is faced with a serious decline in our revenue and the security challenges we are facing. Despite these challenges, our administration is very determined to ensure that the Navy is well supported to achieve its statutory responsibilities," Buhari said.

Previously the Nigerian senate had called on Buhari to take over and revamp one of the largest ships on the fleet of the Nigerian navy.

The motion was sponsored by 15 lawmakers in the lower house.

President Buhari came for the commissioning of the third Seaward Defence Boat (SDB) christened NNS OJI, built by the Naval Dockyard.

The world has seen an increase in the number of piracy attacks on ships from 162 in 2019 to 195 in 202, according to Statista.

Waters off the Nigerian coast experienced the highest number of attacks in 2020 with over 35 cases reported off the coast of the country.