Correspondent in Abuja
The Nigerian Navy (NN), has restated commitment to continued safeguard of the nation’s maritime domain to guard against crude oil thieves and other criminal activities in the country.
The Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Adm. Ibok Ibas,stated this at the two-day NN Transformational workshop 2020, at the Sanni Abacha Hall, National Defence College, on Thursday in Abuja.
The theme of the workshop is ‘Transformation and Change Management: A Strategic Imperative for Growth’.
Ibas described the theme as very instructive, adding that it was the statutory responsibility of the NN to continually develop new way of doing things and the capacity of its personnel toward confronting existing and emerging threats in the maritime environment.
The CNS boss,who was represented by the Chief of Policy/Plans, Naval headquarters, Rear Adm. Mathew Emuekpere, expressed optimism that the workshop would assist in engendering transformational thinking and change management attitudes.
This he said,became imperative, especially among the personnel in the discharge of their duties, as custodians of security of nation’s assets.
The CNS chief said:”This is necessary as we live in a world of unprecedented disruptions and turbulence that require transformation, change of attitude and the need to generate new value to unlock new opportunities.
“To drive new growth as well as delivering new efficiencies. NN is a knowledge-based and learning organisation,highly dynamic and abhors complacency as well as a disposition necessary to effectively combat current national threats, especially in the nation’s maritime environment.”
Ibok noted that the threats the country was facing, at the moment, were existential, adding that protecting its sovereignty was a mandate of NN as a member of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“These threats are in direct confrontation to our roles as custodians of the maritime domain, therefore, it is our enshrined constitutional role to ensure peace and security of the entirety of the nation’s EEZ, territorial and brown waters.
“The continuous changing nature of warfare and the need to be ahead of the curve necessitated the change from the trident strategy to a more expensive Total Spectrum Maritime Strategy.
“The import of this strategy change and the mileage that we have been able to leverage from the new maritime strategy has afforded NN the ability to combat not only conventional threats but also asymetric threats endangering the security and peace of the nation’s maritime domain,”he also said.
According to Ibok,the peace and security of the nation’s maritime domain, without doubt, important as it serves as the main artery of the economic prosperity and national development.
He said that the service, in partnership with its allies in the sub-region and beyond, should be able to go over and beyond the call of duty toward ensuring the safety of the Gulf of Guinea.
“Apparently, this workshop seeks to assist participants in critical areas of transformation and change management in a demanding and hostile environment.
“It is imperative that, as leaders, we are imbued with the capability to adapt and evolve in response to an environment that is extremely fluid.
“It is my conviction that this workshop will assist to further shapen our doctrines and policies toward achieving the goal of safeguarding the nation’s assets, as custodians of its security,”he added.
He, however, expressed confidence that the deliberations and the thoughts that would be generated from the workshop would be immensely beneficial toward the enhancement of the operational efficiency and development of NN.
“It is my hope that at the end of the workshop, you will discover how to create a culture of transformation and change, based on innovation and courage to try out a new ways of doing things.
Citing quotation from John Lilly, Ibok reminded participants of one of Lilly’s saying,”Our only security is our ability to transform and change.”
Earlier, the Chief of Naval Transformation, Rear Adm. Chris Ezekobe, recalled that Nigerian Navy Transformational Plan (NNTP) was established in December 2010 to midwife the implementation of the NNTP 2011-2020.
He disclosed that it was later upraded to a full fledged branch in 2015, adding that NNTP rests on the pillars concepts/organisation fleet on evaluation, infrastructure, logistics/HRM, planning/training, ICT, as well as inter-agency/sub-regioal cooperation.
According to Ezekobe NNTP represents efforts aimed at having a highly professional service, capable of discharging its responsibilities as the custodian of security of the nation’s maritime domain.
