From Lake Chad to the Atlantic: The Nigerian Navy’s Rise as a Force for National and Continental Stability By Musa Ilallah
In the early hours of Wednesday June 18, 2025, a band of terrorists attacked the Naval Base Lake Chad in Baga, Borno State, targeting military equipment at the base, including swamp buggies recently made available by the Governor of Borno State.
A terrible mistake. Naval personnel at the base effectively repelled the attack, neutralising several of the attackers and leaving many others injured. The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla, visited the base days after the aborted attack, to express gratitude to the officers and men of the base, and boost morale.
If the terrorists thought this attack might dampen military morale, it ended up achieving the opposite; the Nigerian Navy is more than determined to redouble its efforts towards securing the Lake Chad area, with the deployment of more personnel and equipment to bolster the base. In addition, the CNS directed that the swamp buggies, which the terrorists failed to destroy, be put into immediate use to commence clearing of the waterways.
From Lake Chad to Rivers Niger and Benue, to the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Guinea, the Nigerian Navy is busy at work, fulfilling its constitutional mandate and protecting Nigeria, West Africa, and Africa. In recent months the Navy has taken delivery of three new ships, NNS SHERE, NNS FARO and NNS IKOGOSI, and 3 new Agusta Westland 109 Trekker Helicopters, to fortify operational capacity and impact.
Under Vice Admiral Ogalla’s watch, the Navy has recently created a Special Operations Command, that will be based in Makurdi, on the banks of River Benue. Also newly created is the Nigerian Navy Marine Corps, patterned after the famous US Marine Corps. In Enugu, a new Special Operations Composite Base is taking off, designated as the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) MADUEKE.
It is noteworthy that no piracy incident has taken place in Nigeria’s waters since the 3rd of March 2022, when the country formally exited the International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) list of piracy-prone countries.
Under Vice Admiral Ogalla, the Nigerian Navy’s flagship operation, Operation Delta Sanity, launched in January 2024, is decisively confronting and curbing crude oil theft. It was rejigged in December 2024, integrating aerial surveillance and improved intelligence-gathering to deliver even greater impact.
Operation Delta Sanity has turned out tremendous results in the last 18 months: More than 800 illegal refining sites, 2400 dugout pits and 5,400 storage facilities discovered and deactivated; 242 suspects arrested, alongside 76 vessels, and several other pieces of equipment and machines.
Indeed, the Nigerian Navy’s contributions to Nigeria’s rising oil and gas production cannot be downplayed. Key Niger delta pipelines like the Trans Niger, Trans Escravos and Trans Forcados have seen substantial increases in uptime since the third quarter of 2024. In fact, just a week ago, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited disclosed that Nigeria attained 100 percent crude oil pipeline availability throughout the month of June—a feat that has not happened in a very long time.
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In all, the contribution of the Nigerian Navy to the Nigerian economy, in terms of helping preserve and grow oil revenues, runs into hundreds of billions of Naira. These economic feats are not just in the area of enabling oil and gas production. The new National Hydrographic Agency, which emerged from the old Nigerian Navy Hydrographic Office, is making waves in its area of expertise: developing state-of-the-art charts of Nigeria’s waterways to enable and advance trade, logistics, and investment.
Just a week ago, the Agency officially presented to the Cross River Government a hydrographic, geophysical and geotechnical report, as well as 3 new navigational charts, for the proposed Bakassi Deep Seaport Project; completed after months of painstaking work led by the Navy.
Understanding that food security is a vital component of national security, and in line with its commitment to the implementation of President Tinubu’s directive on military participation in agriculture, the Nigerian Navy has just established the Admiralty Integrated Farm Limited (ADIFAL).
This agricultural endeavor by the Nigerian Navy will leverage cutting-edge solutions, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT), to provide real-time insights that will advance modern agricultural practices and enable ADIFAL attain optimal levels of agricultural productivity.
Under Vice Admiral Ogalla’s watch, the Nigerian Navy has also been doggedly expanding its national and continental footprints. Three highlights are worth mentioning in this regard. First is that the Nigerian Navy is now ranked the third largest in Africa, after Egypt and Algeria. Second is that the Navy playing a leading role in the operationalisation of a Combined Maritime Task Force—to complement this, Nigeria has affirmed readiness to host the Force headquarters in Lagos.
Third is the provision of provision of Sea Lift Capability to the African Union. What this means is that the Nigerian Navy will make available strategic transport services to support African Union peace support operations, natural disaster support, humanitarian actions, and personnel movement; this was formalised with an agreement signing ceremony at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa in February 2025.
The new International Maritime Institute of Nigeria (IMION), established by Vice Admiral Ogalla a year ago, has also taken off, cementing a strong legacy of intellectual and thought leadership by the Service.
In addition to the Navy’s ambitious infrastructure program—under which dozens of construction and rehabilitation projects are ongoing at Naval bases nationwide—Vice Admiral Ogalla has introduced the commendable concept of ‘CNS Special Intervention Quick Impact Projects’, aimed at serving the Navy’s host communities across the country, and creating an outstanding model of social responsibility.
At the end of May, the Nigerian Navy celebrated its 69th anniversary, with a series of activities that included ‘Open Days’ during which Nigerians had an opportunity to visit, tour and sail on some Navy Ships, including the iconic Landing Ship Tank (LST), NNS KADA. The depth of excitement from those who visited has been captured in videos and photos now permanently memorialized on the internet.
In less than a year from now, the Nigerian Navy will celebrate its 70th anniversary. As that milestone approaches, there is no doubt that the Service is in an excellent place, resolute, motivated, respected and forward-looking; a Navy whose impact is felt across and beyond Nigeria, and of whom the country and indeed all of Africa should be most proud.
Ilallah writes from Abuja, Nigeria
