Rear Admiral Ogalla: The New ‘Sheriff’ at Naval Headquarters

Rear Admiral Ogalla: The New ‘Sheriff’ at Naval Headquarters

Following the sack of the previous Service Chiefs, on Monday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has replaced them with new ones.

Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla was appointed by Mr. President as the new Chief of Naval Staff, CNS.

This is according to a statement signed and released by Willie Bassey, on behalf of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Goerge Akume.

Rear Admiral Ogalla was born on the 20th of December 1968, in Ezike Igbo North LGA of Enugu State.

He obtained his West African School Certificate (WASC) from Nigerian Military School, Zaria in June 87, where he graduated as the best boy in Sciences. He had A1 in all subjects except English language.

Ogalla is a member of the 39th Regular Course Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), graduated with a BSc in Maths and was awarded sword of honour as the best Naval cadet in his course. He was commissioned Senior lieutenant on 16 September 1992 and rose to the rank of Rear Admiral wef 16 September 2021.

He completed the STC Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) QUORRA, Basic Hydrography National Hydrographic School India in May 2000, Junior and Senior Staff Courses AFCSC Jaji in Nov 01 and Jul 06 respectively. He was a participant of NDC Course 22 and was awarded fdc in August 14. As part of the Course, he took part in the MSc Strategic Studies programme, University of Ibadan from 2014 to 2015.

The senior officer served on board many ships including NNS AMBE, ARADU, LANA, EKUN, AGU, QUORRA, BEECROFT, DELTA and PATHFINDER. While on board NNS EKUN he took part in the ECOMOG Operations in Liberia in 1996.

Also as the Base operations officer in NNS PATHFINDER, he was responsible for coordinating anti illegal bunkering operations as well the entire policing duties of the base. During the period there was a remarkable reduction in illegal activities in the maritime area within the base area of operations.

The new Naval boss also served as Instructor, Counter Intelligence, CI and Commader,  Nigerian Navy Hydrographic School (NNHS), SO 1 Survey and DD Instruments NNHO, ADCP, DD Hydro and DPR NHQ, as well as DS/ DARAS NDC and Director Audit NASS Naval headquarters. He is currently the Director Lesson Learnt (DLL) NHQ. During his cumulative 6-year tour of duty in NNHS, he taught geodesy, datum conversion, tidal predictions and analysis, satellite surveying, bathymetry, among others.

As a Commander, he linked the School with Teledyn Marines, a reputable Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in the US, which enabled the NN to procure several survey equipment from the company, leading to improvements in practical training. He was also instrumental to the review of the School’s curriculum to align with International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO) requirements. During his tour of duty in the NNHO, the senior officer was instrumental to the localisation of tidal prediction and analysis.

He participated in the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) sponsored Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem survey in 2004 and provided professional inputs during the survey and production of the NNHO charts. During his tour of duty at the NDC, he contributed towards the improvement of the College research package and also led the 2018 participants research study tour to China and South Korea. As DLL he was responsible for collating and analysing previous Nigerian Navy operations and activities with the objective of drawing lessons necessary for doctrinal and operational improvements.

The new CNS was decorated with FSS, MSS, DSS and GSS. He is a member of the Nigerian Hydrographic Society, Nigerian Institute of Management, the International Earth Rotation Services and also a fellow of the Occupational Safety and Health Association of the UK. He is married to Mrs Ijeoma Ogalla and the marriage is blessed with 2 children.

His hobbies include jogging, reading, listening and researching about science and nature.