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British Foreign Secretary visits NNS Unity Naval Dockyard

By Maria Diamond
02 September 2017   |   4:08 am
The United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson visited the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Unity at Naval Dockyard in Victoria Island Lagos, in a bid to strengthen the bilateral relationship between UK and Nigeria.

The United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson visited the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Unity at Naval Dockyard in Victoria Island Lagos, in a bid to strengthen the bilateral relationship between UK and Nigeria.

During a press briefing, Boris said a large amount of the United Kingdom oil comes through the Nigerian water and congratulated the Nigerian Navy for their immense effort to combat piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.

“We in the U.K are very proud to offer assistance to the Nigerian Navy to become even better in tackling piracy” said Boris.

According to the Chief of Trainings and Operations, Rear Admiral Fergusson Bobai, who represented the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Ibok Ibas, while addressing Newsmen, affirmed that the visit was to strengthen the long existing bilateral relations between the two countries which is dated back before independence.

“The British have been the Nigerian Navy’s major training source with their training assistance team and as a matter of fact, they helped us to put up the Nigerian Navy.

“Few days ago, a crew of British personnel arrived Nigeria specifically to conduct fire fighting and damage control trainings onboard at the NNS Unity” he said.

According to Bobai who said the Nigeria Navy’s challenges is within the riverine areas and there is an arrangement with the United Kingdom to get riverine boats which could be used to patrol the creeks in the Niger Delta.

“So it is not out of place that they (UK) give first hand military assistance to Nigeria to facilitate and capacitate the fight against piracy and other maritime crimes especially in the Gulf of Guinea.

“For us, the Foreign Secretary visit is a good omen indicating that our relation with the United Kingdom is growing stronger, so we appreciate them and hope they continue to support us in capacity building” he said.

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