The Nigerian Navy (NN) may have adopted one of the organisational theories of Douglas McGregor, when it decorated 19 newly-promoted NonCommissioned Officers (NCOs) with the enviable rank of Navy Warrant Officer (NWO), the highest in the Ratings (NCOs) cadre of the Service.

The decoration ceremony held at the Vice Admiral DJ Ezeoba Hall, Navy Headquarters in Abuja. According to the Navy, the elevation was part of the military tradition and practice to reward personnel, who have discharged the burdens of discipline, professionalism, dedication to duty, and other standards of assessment creditably well.

Since his assumption of office on June 19 2023, the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, has demonstrated unparalleled commitment to boosting the morale of officers and ratings, fleet renewal/ infrastructural development, maritime stakeholders engagement, interagency cooperation and youths/sports development.

Little wonder his vision statement is to enthrone “a highly motivated professional naval force capable of shaping the security outcomes within Nigeria’s maritime domain and the littorals including land-based engagements in fulfillment of Nigeria’s national interest”.

The decoration

The CNS, who was represented at the ceremony by the Chief of Policy and Plans, Rear Admiral Joseph Akpan, tasked the officers on the compelling need to remain dedicated and professional in the discharge of their duties.

He reminded them that “it is because of your hard work, commitment, dedication to duty, and more importantly, unblemished record”, that made the promotion possible.

His words: “Promotion; first of all, they say, comes from God and so, you should see it as an act of God that He has counted you worthy amongst your colleagues whom you started with.

“You know that many of them might have fallen along the way, and even those who are still in service, not all of them were counted worthy to be elevated to this particular enviable rank.

“You have played key roles before, and now you have been called upon to play even more important roles, because when you are deployed, some of you will find yourself there at the Niger Delta.

“So, you need to lead by example, lead with courage and even more dedication. “Now you will be wearing the white uniform and other naval accoutrement like white shoes.

“It is something that demands cleanliness and discipline for you to be neat and to appear the way you should appear.

“It will be your responsibility to bring the men together, the ratings together, talk to them, speak the language which they understand and always make sure that you have your acts together.”

While congratulating the NWOs on their elevation, Ogalla commended their spouses for their support, understanding, encouragement and love, which have enabled their career progression.

Responding on behalf of his colleagues, Philip Shishi, thanked the CNS for considering them worthy of the promotion, noting that the NWO rank had granted them the prestigious ‘Admirals of the Lower Deck’ title.

Present at the colourful event were senior officers, family members and friends of the “men of the moment”, including members of the military band, who were in their elements.

Expanding naval operations

Inside Abuja reports that the Naval Headquarters was a beehive of activities last week, as the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, paid a courtesy call on the CNS.

During the visit, Abiodun announced the allocation of 100 hectares of land to the Service for the establishment of a Base, as well as a dockyard. The Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, described Ogun state as strategic in the nation.

“It is strategic with us in our activities, which cannot be effectively done without the collaboration of key stakeholders like the state. We listened to the proposal the governor has towards developing the state all geared towards promoting economic activities.

“He proposed a molecular LNG and molecular blue seaport and also the development of the ‘Tongaji’ Island. These are investments that will attract a number of US dollars of up to N10bn into the Nigerian economy.

These investments can’t be without security. “We must make sure we fulfil this aspect, which is the provision of security. We’ll move without waiting to establish these facilities, we make steps towards identifying suitable locations for this Naval Base.

The committee has done a good job choosing a location that is close to these strategic investments that are coming into Ogun State. “I’m glad that you have already allocated 100 hectares of land.

I want to assure the governor that we’ll do what is necessary as speedily as possible to make sure that this objective is actualised,” the CNS pledged.

Presenting the land documents to the naval chief, the Governor disclosed that recently the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited declared that Ogun State had qualified for frontier status.

“And that is a status that is declared in areas where they believe that there are petroleum resources available from all locations.

This is justified to them because we obtained studies that are probably about 60 years old from Shell, showing that Shell had drilled some wells around the other side of Tongaji Island about 60 years ago, but as soon as they found oil in Delta, they abandoned those wells and never came back.

“So they declared us and gave us frontier status. Exploration of oil means that we have one of the most abundant deposits of bitumen as well in Ogun State. And we are convinced that in no distant future, Ogun State will be declared an oil-producing state.

We have submitted this and this was one of the reasons I began to encourage discussions between myself and the Nigerian Navy team.

“So a team was sent out to come and take a look at the sites that would be suitable to have a naval base and a naval dockyard.

Another reason why we thought this was important besides the frontier business status is the Natural Gas Project, the LNG project, which had been on the drawing board for several years”.