By Ike Uchechukwu, CALABAR 

Nigeria has gone four straight years without a single reported piracy incident in its territorial waters, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Idi Abbas, declared.

He credied the success to sustained maritime patrols and regional cooperation which has brought under control what he described  as a menace that once made the nation’s waters among the world’s most dangerous.

Abbas made the disclosure Tuesday in Calabar while addressing the graduation ceremony of participants of Naval Warfare Course 10 at the Naval War College Nigeria, even as he cautioned that the Navy could not afford to relax amid emerging threats to the maritime domain.

He noted that piracy across the entire Gulf of Guinea had also dropped sharply, but warned that the progress must be consolidated.

His words :” Encouragingly, Nigeria has maintained zero reported piracy incidents in our waters for four consecutive years, while incidents across the wider Gulf of Guinea have declined significantly,

 “These gains must be sustained through persistent maritime domain awareness, credible presence at sea, regional cooperation and timely response,” he said.

The CNS linked maritime security directly to Nigeria’s economic survival, pointing to the nation’s offshore assets, ports, shipping lanes and energy infrastructure as reasons the Navy was ramping up operations against crude oil theft, illegal mining and other forms of economic sabotage.

He disclosed that Nigeria’s crude oil production had climbed to about 1.56 million barrels per day as of June 2026, insisting that safeguarding the maritime space remained central to protecting that gain.

Abbas charged the newly graduated officers to harness emerging technologies and fresh operational thinking to consolidate the Navy’s achievements, describing today’s security terrain as one demanding commanders who can fuse technology, intelligence and operations across maritime, land and cyber domains.

 He singled out a course research project, “Adopting Emerging Technology for Operational Effectiveness in the Nigerian Navy: The Way Forward for Naval Engineering,” as evidence of the growing premium placed on innovation.

He added that naval personnel were increasingly deployed alongside sister services in land operations against terrorism and insurgency, making jointness across the armed forces more critical than ever.

With Nigeria edging toward another election cycle, the CNS urged officers to remain apolitical and professional.

 “Your decisions must remain grounded in the Constitution, the law, professional ethics and respect for human dignity,” he said.

Earlier, the Commandant of the college, Rear Admiral Muhammed Muye, said the course groomed senior officers for strategic leadership through training in operational art, defence management and simulation exercises

He  commended the 34 participants drawn also from Cameroon, Ghana and Liberia  for their discipline and professionalism.