The Nigerian Navy said that it would investigate and punish naval personnel colluding with criminals involved in oil bunkering and other maritime criminals sabotaging the nation's economy. This was made known by the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral A.Z. Gambo on Thursday during the decoration ceremony of newly promoted senior officers of the Nigerian Navy.
He said, "While there are significant achievements in the various maritime crimes, there are pockets of personnel still colluding with criminals to sabotage these efforts.
"Let me, therefore, warn that any act of collusion with criminals to sabotage the measures in place to checkmate illegality will be met with stiff actions in accordance with the laws of the land."
Gambo also advised members of the Nigerian Navy to be more dedicated and display unalloyed loyalty to the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces in tackling the security challenges in the country.
He further said, "The year 2021 was challenging, the coming year would be more challenging in various aspects. It is going to get tougher, not only in Nigeria, but across the world, and of course, our confidence is that we have corps of officers of the armed forces that would meet the demand of these challenges in 2022. Your promotion testifies to the fact that we need robust officers.
"As personnel of the Nigerian Navy, you occupy the center stage of our economy. You must ensure that our economy is not brought to the lowest ebb. Our maritime domain must be kept of all manners of insecurity."
The Defence Headquarters revealed that troops of the South-South Joint Task Force Operation Delta Safe (OPDS) arrested 567 criminal suspects in the South-South region of Nigeria in 2021.
