Buhari commissions warships in Lagos as army promotes 227 officers

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday in Lagos said the Federal Government would continue to support and equip the military, while urging ingenuity in complementing his administration’s efforts to construct and improvise some vital operational tools.

At the commissioning of three warships, Unity, Karaduwa and Commander Edwin Ugwu, the president commended the Navy for building two of them.

He said: ‘’It is most fulfilling to note that our own engineers at the Nigerian Navy Dockyard, Lagos and the Naval Shipyard, Port Harcourt are wholly responsible for the building of the Seaward Defence Boat, Nigerian Navy Ship Karaduwa and the tugboat Commander Edwin Ugwu.

“It is also worth noting that NNS Unity, which is Nigeria’s newest warship, is the second of such acquisitions from the Peoples’ Republic of China.”

He commended the Navy’s strides in the area of continued fight against maritime security threats like piracy, oil theft, illegal bunkering, pipeline vandalism and support for the fight against terrorism in the North East.

The President said the healthy and growing diplomatic relations with China had been most beneficial to Nigeria, recalling that the Chinese government had earlier donated an offshore patrol boat to the navy last year.

In another development, the Chief of Army Staff has said troops have made decisive advancement into the Sambisa forest.
While decorating some newly promoted senior officers, he said that definite and “drastic changes” has helped the troops make appreciable progress into the hideouts of the insurgents.

He said the presidential support for the Army so far in the fight against insurgency was invaluable and was largely responsible for the successes recorded by troops in the fight against the Boko Haram terrorists in the North East and other operations.

Out of the 227 promoted officers, 21 rose from Brigadier-General to Major-General, and 93 from Colonels to Brigadier Generals, among whom was the Director of Army Public Relations, Sani Usman.

Others are 113 Lieutenant-Colonels also moved to Colonel.