BY EMEKA MAMAH
LAGOS—There is now anxiety in security circles following the alleged inability of the Nigerian Navy to sweep the country’s coastal waters for land mines in the last 15 years.

Security sources told Vanguard that although the Navy has the Mines Counter Measure Vessels, MCMVs, with which it can rid the coastal waters of such land mines, it had been unable to overhaul and upgrade the vessels’ hydrojets with which to under take such assignments as meetings held to award such contracts over the years had been unsuccessful.

The foreign contractor which was slated to handle both the overhaul and upgrading of the vessels’ hydrojets had initially propsed a 10-day overseas training for 13 Naval officers at an undisclosed amount which, included cost of contract, insurance, freight and transportation of the hydrojet comoponents to and fro (the overseas country) exclusive of inland transportation within Nigeria just as the foreign contractors would have also, provided the country with a list of standard spares for a period of two years.

Negotiations was said to have started for the award of the contracts sometime in June, 2004, during the regime of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, when a team from the foreign contractors was invited to Abuja by the Ministry of Defence to ‘’conclude discussions on overhauling the hydrojets of the Nigerian Naval Ships…even as the overhauling package included the upgrading of the hydrojets, training of three personnel of the Nigerian Navy on maintainance of the hydrojets and the secondment of the technical experts to the Nigerian Navy for 20 working days to install and commission the overhauled equipment,’’ but nothing meaningful was said to have been achieved on the visit, as the coasts which were expected to have been swept regularly to remove such dangerous weapons like mines that could be used to undermine the nation by hostile countries have been left unswept for a long time.

According to defence sources, “the Navy ascribed the funding of the said project” which it regarded ‘’as top priority through supplementry budget for the Defence sector in 2008’’ but there was no supplementary budget that year.

‘’It was later rolled into the 2009 capital budget proposal but nothing meaningful was also achieved, although the availability of the MCMVs are meant to enhance the Navy’s statutory roles of defending the territorial waters of Nigeria,’’ even at peace time.

The Navy was effective in saving the country from the activities of the Niger Delta militants when the people agitating over the neglect of the oil producing areas literally levied war on the nation.

The arm of the security forces trained to protect the territorial waters was thrown into the Niger Delta crisis to bring about normalcy, hence it bore the major brunt of the crises.

It was at the heat of the logjam between the militants and the nation that the Navy went through some transformations in size, platform and its policy orientation, hence, the Service which used to have three operational commands vis -a vis Western, Eastern and the Naval Training Commands now expanded with the Logistics Command with headquarters in Oghara, Delta State.

Apart from this, the Navy also transformed into a modern blue ocean navy, operating out of the four operational bases as the Service was equipped with a modern frigate, two amphibious capability ships, six fast attack craft, one survey ship, four large coastal patrol craft, two MCMVs as well as an Air arm, operating three Augusta A109E helicopters among other equipment that were procured to enhance its oprational capabilities.

It is however, the upgrading and overhauling of the MCMVs which were acquired with tax payers money that has made defence experts to question the prepardness of the country to provide security in the Gulf of Guinea at a recent meeting in Hague, where Nigeria however, insisted that the Navy did not need the assistance of foreign countries to protect the nation’s economic exclusive zones.

President Goodluck Jonathan was once quoted as saying that ‘’criminals do not respect boundries in their nefarious activities’’ adding that Nigeria would ‘’co-operate with her neighbours to find lasting solutions to the problems they (criminals) pose’’

Jonathan was reportedly reacting to the appeal made by President Boni Yayi of Benin Republic over increasing wave of criminal activities along their common borders, including the Gulf of Guinea which coastaline was being threatened.

It is however, not known why President Jonathan, who rejected the purchase of a Presidential Yatch approved by his predecessor, late Umaru Yar’Adua at a cost of N3.3billion and directed that such fund be used to improve the combat readiness of the Nigerian Navy, nay the military, has not addressed the problem of ‘’overhauling and upgrading the MCMVs of the Navy.’’