On Wednesday, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the Nigerian Navy and the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, NASENI, to develop local ships for maritime security.
Vice Admiral Auwal Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Naval Headquarters in Abuja and stated that the NASENI team had visited the Naval Shipyard in Lagos to improve local shipbuilding, construction, and fabrications for the Nigerian Navy.
He said that the indigenous shipbuilding initiative had increased the Nigerian navy's presence at sea, which had significantly decreased piracy.
Gambo claimed that the culmination of the efforts was the removal of Nigeria off the global list of nations that are prone to piracy.
The MoU, according to Mohammad Haruna, executive vice chairman of NASENI, will conserve foreign currency and manufacture what is required domestically to improve national security.
Haruna praised the Navy's inventiveness and creativity in building up local capability, adding the MoU would result in concrete benefits for Nigeria.
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He said that the Navy's advancements at its dockyard in Lagos will facilitate cooperation in terms of research, the production of shipbuilding components, and replacement parts.
Vice Admiral Suleiman Garba, the Navy's chief of policy and plans, hailed the Pact as a turning point in Nigeria's shared technology revolution.