The Western Naval Command (WNC) on Monday received the French Navy Ship, BOUAN as part of its efforts to further boost bilateral relations with foreign navies, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
The French Naval Ship which had also visited the country last year berthed in Lagos.
Rear Adm. Oladele Daji, the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Western Naval Command, said that there would be a series of activities to ensure that the Nigeria Navy tapped from the best practices of their visiting foreign counterpart.
“There are a lot of activities lined up for this particular visit which include: training ashore in various aspects of naval operations as well as passage exercise at sea and joint patrols.
“I believe that we will be able to pick up some of the best practices that they have and infuse them into our own processes and procedures for an enhanced operational efficiency by the Western Naval Command, ” he said.
The FOC said that the previous visits by the French Navy and other foreign navies had helped to boost some of the operations of the Western Naval Command.
“Their previous visits had been impactful because like I said the idea is to tap from the best practices and see how we can infuse them into our own.
“In the last seven weeks, we had arrested eight ships including the one that was arrested just yesterday,eight ships engaged in crude oil theft and illegal dealings, and in illegally refined AGO.
“All these are the cumulative results of the training that we have been having not only with the French Navy but with other cooperating Navies and sister agencies,” he said.
Also, Commander Yann Eric-Noat, the Commanding Officer of the French Naval Ship, said that their second visit was to illustrate the improving cooperation between both navies.
“The second visit that I am doing here in Lagos in seven months is just to illustrate the improving cooperation between the French Navy and Nigeria Navy, we share a lot of interest in the Gulf of Guinea.
“And we definitely will like to enhance our cooperation and energy inside this area, so, this is a great partner, we will like to share our best practices with the Nigerian Navy,” he said.
Eric-Noat said that during the visit, the Nigeria Navy patrol boats would be given some trainings at the Gulf of Guinea.
“We had a great time the last time, though the last time we came, we stayed just a day and half. And to make sure we achieve all that we want, we will stay a few more days this time.
“We will have a lot of interactions along the sea side and also at sea. So, we will have several trainings scheduled and then we will organise some trainings at sea and some operations with a few patrol boats from NN.
“As we will leave at the end of the week ,we will leave the Nigerian Navy with the best practices in the water of the Gulf of Guinea,” he said.
He added that the NN would also be updated in areas like nautical navigation, combat first aid, and cyber security.(NAN)