As part of activities to celebrate the Nigerian Navy’s (NN) 69th anniversary, over 400 civilians including school pupils were taken on a sea trip aboard NNS KADA on Friday morning.
The Landing Ship Tank (LST) 100 which set sail around 9:20am from NNS BEECROFT jetty, attracted residents from diverse fields and culture who submitted themselves to layers of security screening before embarking the vessel.
The Nation reports that while most of the guests danced to the beats of Nigerian hip hop music that blared through connected speakers, a host of others, probably sailing for their first time, staggered to washrooms and other available spaces to vomit due to sea sickness.
Impressively, the medical team of the Navy were on ground to assist those throwing up just as persons who needed medications were taken to the ship’s sickbay.
At the end of the sea trip which lasted about three hours and showed the civilians the ocean view of Lagos to and fro the Anchorage, many of those who participated appreciated the Navy’s duty.
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Speaking to journalists after the cruise, Western Fleet Commander, Rear Admiral Ibrahim Mohammed-Katsina, said the sea trip was aimed at enhancing civil-military relationships.
He said that the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla, approved the trip in order to open up the Navy to its owners-Nigerians.
He said with the sea trip, those who participated were better informed about the workings of the Navy, the ships the country has, what they do and how the budget approved for the Navy was being utilized.
“The civilians went to sea with us to have an experience of what the navy is capable of doing in terms of protecting the nation’s maritime environment and by extension, the Gulf of Guinea.
“The civilians are the ones who pay the tax the nation uses in buying all the assets that the Nigerian Navy utilises. Therefore, we must collaborate, cooperate and keep the public informed of what we are doing with the taxes being paid,” he said.
The Admiral assured the public that they were safe, adding that the Navy would continue to live up to its constitutional responsibilities of protecting the country’s maritime domain and resources in it.
