The Nigerian Navy has advocated the establishment of a special maritime court to expedite adjudication on maritime cases.

The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Adm. Emmanuel Ogalla, made the call on Friday in Abuja when he paid a courtesy visit to the Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Jibrin Baba-Ndace.

Mr Ogalla, represented by the Navy director of information, Commodore Adams Aliyu, said maritime cases, which start from surveillance, arrest to conviction, needed speedy dispensation.

“Based on the mandate to eliminate the menace of oil theft, we have launched Operation Delta Security in Warri to combat oil theft.

“So far, we have made remarkable progress in the arrest, seizure and deactivation of illegal storage tanks, refineries,” he said.

The naval boss said he was in the VON office, to strengthen the Nigerian Navy’s relationship and cooperation with media houses, adding that VON was strategic.

On his mission for the Nigerian Navy, Mr Ogalla said: “it is to have a highly motivated and professional Naval Force capable of shaping the security outcome within Nigeria’s maritime domain and land based enhancement in fulfilment of our national interest.

“To achieve the mission, I have a vision which is to maintain and equip a professional, competent and ethical naval force leveraging all national power for effective defence of Nigeria’s maritime interest against all forms of threats.

“All these are also to secure the maritime environment in the Gulf of Guinea to enable economic prosperity in line with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda which birthed the Ministry of Blue Economy”.

The naval boss said the navy was ready to partner with VON in propagating its vision, mission, programmes and activities.

On his part, the VON boss observed that one of the biggest challenges facing the Nigerian Armed Forces was that not much was being heard about them.

He underscored the need to do a lot in telling the story of the Nigerian Navy, Army and the Air Force as well as the readiness of his organisation to partner with the Navy.

“You have a willing partner in VON. We have no other job than to tell the stories of Nigeria, Nigerians, Africa and Africans. As an institution, we do it on a daily basis in eight languages.

“We broadcast in four local languages of Hausa, Igbo Yoruba and Fulfulde. The foreign languages include English, Arabic, French and Swahili. But we are looking forward to broadcasting in Mandarin and Portuguese.

“I want to assure you that right away, I am offering the Nigerian Navy a dedicated broadcast programme.

“It will be a weekly programme. We are going to work out the name, time and how to generate content for it,” he said

Mr Baba-Ndace urged Nigerians to understand the value of the armed forces as an investment of national power, adding that, once they start diminishing it, they are diminishing national power.

He appreciated Mr Ogalla and urged him to continue the tradition of maintaining stability with Nigeria’s maritime waters.

(NAN)