Navy to strengthen Nigeria’s marine sector, blue economy

 Precious Igbonwelundu

NIGERIA has pledged its commitment to improve hydrographic capacity and capability to strengthen the maritime sector and blue economy.

The Hydrographer of Nigeria and President of Nigerian Hydrographic Society (NHS), Rear Admiral Chukwuemeka Okafor, stated this in his address during this year’s World Hydrography Day (WHD).

The Nation reports that June 21 is set aside annually by the International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO) for the world’s hydrographic community to highlight the importance of hydrography and its relevance to humanity.

Okafor said the NHS was proud of the milestones it had recorded, including the acceptance and publication of Nigeria’s first Electronic Navigational Chart (ENC), NG525010, by the International Centre for ENC (IC-ENC) earlier this month.

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Okafor, who is also the Hydrographer of the Nigerian Navy, said the service’s planned induction of a state-of-the-art offshore survey vessel with autonomous capabilities in few months would aide the provision of up-to-date marine geo-spatial information of Nigerian waters to diverse maritime operators for enhanced economic growth of the country.