₦airaland Forum

Ablemed:
Can therapy work for me?? isn't it to late at 24years of age?? I just finished calling mum now and accused her of everything that has happened to me, I told her I don't want to hear from her, not anytime soon. I'm tried calling my Dad to but his line is switch off, I just wanna cut both of them off, They put me in this mess that I have to fight alone now

Guy, you need therapy. Put your mind to it and it will work for you. Please work on that. You can afford it. Find out those who are specialists in your area of need.

Fighting your parents won't solve your problem. They did their best based on their understanding and the need to protect you. Appreciate their efforts even if it has it's negative effect. No parent is perfect. You learn on the job and pray for God's guidance and blessings.

We will understand it better by and by....

Welcome home Tobi, the real slay queen. So proud of you.

May the Lord continue to protect and guide our diligent and gallant soldiers. May they be fully victorious in the shortest possible time. Amen.

May God be with their families as they try to keep us all safe and secure against all odds. Amen

Even if Tinubu doesn't deserve the vote? Low level of reasoning in my humble opinion.

Not so different from the installation of Kings here!
I'm wondering why ours is regarded as paganism. I don't support blood sacrifices et al though.

Hmmm. Those years of horror and terror....

femisplash:
This lesbian bitch was born in 1976, that was six years after the war. Six years after, the country was on it's pathway to recovery. Three years after her birth, an ibo man, Alex Ekwueme was elected the VP alongside Shagari. Ibos were in the seat of power 9 yrs after. Such has never been achieved anywhere else in the world in such a very short time. No rebels fought against the sovereignty of a country and was allowed close to power in 9 yrs, None ever!
She was mislead and misinformed by narratives written by Chinua Achebe-a man who fled into his grave, opening up fresh wounds at the time the country was healing. He dropped a book on his death bed without the courage to face fierce criticisms
Little was she informed about the role of Ojukwu in starving millions of biafrans.
https://www.nairaland.com/7325192/historical-excursion-how-ojukwu-starved
Little was she informed that biafra was heavily backed by France who supplied both Military and financial support on the side of biafra. Military planes called biafra babes were manned by European pilots, majorly, the French and swedish pilots. Fortunately or unfortunately, there can only be one winner on either side. Most likely, ibos could have been French speaking biafrans if they had had the victory. Would have been heavily indebted to the French Government who till today are defacto head of Government to all former French colonies in Africa.

It's convenient for her to ignore this other side of the story.

The majority of committed voters are not on twitter.

Some dreams makes one feel so special.

Home


Why vessels prefer Lagos to eastern ports – Naval spokesperson, Ayo-Vaughan


By Tunde Ajaja
11th September 2022
AYO VAUGHAN

The Director of Information, Nigerian Navy, Commodore Adedotun Ayo-Vaughan, shares with TUNDE AJAJA efforts by the navy to curb crude oil theft, support sister agencies in the anti-terrorism fight and discipline in the service

The issue of crude oil theft has remained an intractable problem and the navy began the court-martialling of 13 naval officers for complicity in the menace, what is the outcome of that exercise?

The court-martial ended some months ago. It started last year and it was an allegation of complacency against some of our men. The report has been submitted and is being reviewed to know whatever verdict would be given to them or whether they were able to defend themselves. The navy is trying to do a quarterly publication of persons who committed very serious offences so that people would know that the navy is being purged of bad eggs. In every organisation, not all the eggs are good. However, the names of erring persons are usually released within the armed forces system. There are also instances where some people try to induce our men. I have served in the Niger Delta many times, so I know. However, we keep talking to our men and we remind them of the punishment that would be meted out to them if they are caught. The Chief of Defence (General Lucky Irabor) has also been very particular about what the men serving in the Niger Delta should not do, for the good of the environment, the country and the image of the Armed Forces. We welcome any report of compromise or involvement of our personnel, with facts, so the authorities could need the needful.

What is the solution to these leakages from the perspective of the navy, since you are on the field?

The solution I would propose is a look at the factors that occasion force majeure, the factors that bring about metering errors and problems, the things that need to be put in place for the effective surveillance of the pipelines, particularly technology. There are 3,000 creeks in Delta State and while I served in Operation Restore Hope in 2011, there were times you would send out men and if they didn’t have a guide, they could get missing in the creeks. So, the knowledge of the creeks come into play and it’s some of the locals that are siphoning the fuel because they know the area better than even security agents. So, how do we get these locals and other persons involved to be patriotic? How do we get these people to know they can do better rather than destroying pipelines? It has to be a reorientation and it has to involve the efforts of political leaders, traditional rulers, even though some of them are also compromised. The idea of looking for shortcuts and this get-rich-quick syndrome is a reflection of the larger society. There is also the issue of attitude to life. When the young people were getting stipends from the oil companies, somebody would have their name with different companies and after that, they would still threaten to sabotage the companies if they were not given more money. That mindset needs to change. Yes, the oil is yours but you are not going to drink the oil. We are still a federation. So, they need to get engaged and live moderately so they can sustain that lifestyle with legitimate income. It has to do with a lot of reorientation and education, which I believe is doable.


Due to the rate of pirate attacks on Nigerian waters, vessels going to the Niger Delta area were mandated to procure war insurance, yet Nigeria needs the eastern ports to decongest the Lagos ports. What’s the situation at this time?

The Nigerian Navy in particular has been able to reduce to the barest minimum maritime piracy, such that for about five months, there has been no report of pirate attacks or violence in our offshore waters. However, I know that since the clean slate was given to the Nigerian maritime environment by the International Maritime Bureau, there are discussions at different levels to reverse that war insurance pronouncement. I have been to all the ports in the Niger Delta, not through the land but through the waterways. Lagos is the best in Nigeria because of accessibility. In six minutes you are in Apapa and six minutes you are out and you can do it 24/7, but when you move to Escravos, Warri, you need over one hour to enter. When you move to Calabar, it’s the same thing. When you move to Port Harcourt, yes it’s very smooth to Bonny but it’s about 30 mins to 45 mins, depending on the speed of the vessel. So, for a seafarer or mariner, after spending two weeks at sea, you may not want to do another one hour to get to a certain port. I know the way we endured it when I served in those places. Insecurity may be one of the factors, but access is a key factor in those places. I know the governments of Akwa Ibom and Ondo states have conceptualised the need for a seaport like there are in Lagos. So, I believe efforts are being made to reverse this war insurance and to reduce the insurance premium for vessels coming to our waters.

Apart from fighting piracy and criminality on Nigerian waters, what role is the navy playing in the fight against insecurity in different parts of the country?

We are involved in anti-terrorism efforts and the navy plays a supportive role for many agencies, including our sister service like the army. A support element of the navy is with the army in Operation Hadin Kai in the North-East. We are also providing support for other operations in the North-West, North-Central and South-East. We collaborate with the Custom, particularly in the maritime domain. We collaborate with the Immigration, particularly at the maritime frontiers, like the frontiers with Cameroon. We even have a base there at Ibakar. We also work with the NSCDC. Majority of the over 100 suspects and oil thieves that have been arrested by the navy in the last six months were handed over to the NSCDC and we work with the Department of State Services. In the North-East for example, we have a complement of the navy, which is the navy special boat service, supporting the operations at the theatre. We have a Naval Base in Baga, Borno State. We also have our men in Operation Wild Punch. We have our men in Shagunu, Niger State, which is North-Central. They may not be as numerous as our colleagues in the army but they are there. We also have our naval base in Lake Chad, working with an amphibious brigade of the army in Maiduguri. The water has receded and there are a lot of islands here and there, and those places could be safe havens for the insurgents. So, we have a naval base on Lake Chad. In the North-East where there is a Civilian Joint Task Force, we also have our men there.

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Nigeria seems overwhelmed by insecurity currently, with the rate of killings and kidnapping in different parts of the country. How strong is the Nigerian navy?


We are a strong navy by all standards, particularly in the sub-region. The Nigerian navy remains the sub-regional maritime power. It’s undisputed. In the last five years, the navy has been undergoing fleet recapitalisation. We have new platforms, we are expecting new platforms and we are doing our best to maintain the old ones we have. There is a move to refit the flagship of the nation, Nigerian Navy Ship Aradu. The senators are championing the case for her refit. Initially, it was thought not to be too economically viable, but for prestige reasons, they are making a case for her refit. As we speak, the Chief of Naval Staff will be travelling to Turkey soon for two offshore patrol vehicles that are being built there. There are also defence boats that are being built locally at the naval dockyard in Victoria Island, Lagos. They would be the fourth and fifth the navy is building. We have built three since we keyed into local content for ship building. We also took delivery of Nigerian Navy Ship Lana last year and she is carrying out a milestone, epoch-making task as we speak. She is surveying our offshore waters, which were last surveyed 200 years ago by the British. But with Lana, we are going to be producing our own charts. We don’t need to rely on the British again. The flag off for the survey of our waters was done in June by NNS Lana, a survey ship built in France. A sister ship of ours is also being built in France. We have Aresa, Inshore and Offshore patrol craft that were built. So, if you put together the size of our fleet, and the number of ships in the sub-region, we are actually not at par and there is no basis for comparison. We also took delivery of NNS Kada, which is a landing ship transport, and is for humanitarian, disaster relief effort and for the sealift role for the army. NNS Kada is a replacement for NNS Ambe and Ofiom that were in service during the ECOMOG days but have been decommissioned. Since Kada came in, she had undertaken national assignments to Guinea Bissau to deliver logistics and materials to the Nigerian contingent that was part of the ECOWAS stabilisation support mission in Guinea Bissau after the coup that took place there. So, as we speak, the fleet is being recapitalised and we can only be grateful to the government of the day and Nigerian taxpayers, whose resources are being put into good use for the good of Nigeria.

Some Nigerians still fault the citing of a naval base in landlocked Kano State. Even though there are naval bases in similar states, what was the rationale behind it?

The one in Kano State is not the first. We have the Nigerian Navy School of Health and Medical Services, in Offa, Kwara State. We have the Nigerian Navy School of Armament Technology in Kachia, Kaduna State. There is the Nigerian Navy School of Music in Ota, Ogun State. The one in Kano is Nigerian Navy Logistics College. The reason why it was conceptualised was because we are involved in land operations now. The Nigerian Navy Total Spectrum Maritime Strategy makes provision for involvement in such operations, which means we are playing our primary role in the maritime sector, but we are playing a support role to land forces as Military Aid to Civil Power and Military Aid to Civil Authority, which is part of our constitutional mandate; MACA and MACP. In doing that, there was the need to have a logistics chain of supply for our men in those operations. Also, Kano being central is the reason why that was put in place and it’s still undergoing construction. It also brings the navy close to the people in the north.

It has become common practice for military men and personnel of other security agencies to harass private citizens, what are you doing to end this menace because it breeds disgust for such agencies and undermines the support people are supposed to give such security agencies?

It’s a very wrong mentality to do that and we keep educating our men. In the training school, we make the men understand that there are sister agencies that also have their distinct roles and are worthy of respect. So, we make them realise they are not superhuman beings and they need to recognise others. The present state of security has brought about inter-service comradeship and esprit de corps. With regard to the average Nigerian citizen, that issue has been there for a long time, but the effort is to keep educating them and making scapegoats of those that brutalise and manhandle people. We remind them that they would also remove the uniform one day. If for nothing, they have relatives that are civilians, so it is only necessary that people are accorded their respect as fellow citizens. We are working on it, and even at the strategic level higher than us, it’s something of concern, because we are an apolitical military.


The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), was in Lagos on Thursday to inaugurate the Nigerian Navy Sports Complex and the 12th Nigerian Navy Games. What was the motivation for the sports complex?

The President was in Lagos to flag off the 12th Nigerian Navy Games and inaugurate the just completed Nigerian Navy Sports Complex at Navy Town, Ojo. It was the first of its kind. The idea of the sports complex was initiated by the former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd.). The need was borne out of the fact that there are a lot of young people in the barracks, young sailors and children of the sailors and accessing any recreational facility is somewhat difficult because of the road and the way Satellite Town is now. In that axis, apart from the Ojo Cantonment and maybe some small places in FESTAC, except you go to Surulere, Teslim Balogun and the National Stadium before you could find a recreational facility. So, I believe that motivated the construction of the sports complex and it would be for the dwellers of Navy Town and that area. It’s quite big, comprising the normal pitch for 400 metres, football field, indoor sports arena, swimming pool, and an arena for viewers. So, it’s quite big and a lot was spent to realise it.

Contact: theeditor[at]punchng.com


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Bodmum:
cheap propaganda /lie

It's true. I saw the pictures with a friend who is from that family years ago. The Odutola brothers were successful business men.

The information is available on Google.

Polluting the minds of kids. Parents need to be more careful.

Hmmm! That could happen easily in Nigeria where children are kidnapped or bred in baby factories for sale. Scary indeed.

gidgiddy:
He did not remove federalism in any way, it was Gowon that did that when he abolished the 4 Regions that existed at the time, and created 12 states

Those who came after Gowon kept subdivided those 12 states until we got 36 states we have today

He did by virtue of a law drafted for unification by Prof. Nwabueze. Gowon's division was made possible because of that.

Queen Elizabeth made the war happen?

She had no right to choose or lean towards a side when we started the war? She sent us?

People need to read history and understand all perspectives.

Those who removed History as a subject from schools did a lot of harm indeed!

God bless Tobi for giving us reasons to be thankful in the midst of so much misery in our Nation. May your star keep rising and shining.

27Pushing30:
was hell in VI when they banned bike and keke ...but today we used to it

That's the point! More people will invest in buses along those routes shortly. LASG should also consider providing buses for BRT routes on the major roads in that area.

Besides, we should forget about the door to door transportation mentality at great cost to our safety and general well being. People walk long distances to the bus and train stations abroad where we consider more developed. It's good for the body and much safer.

I pray that she brings peace, joy and stability into his life finally.

May God grant him Aljannah firdaus and comfort his family.

A hero indeed.

Oluremi's maiden name as stated in this story is wrong.
How could BAT have used a documented passport of a lady to travel to the US?

BAT may have an unclear past but this story is not factual. It looks like a mix of the tales we've heard before with embellishments and errors.

Gist lover who wrongly stated Remi Tinubu's maiden name as Balkis Oluremi Odugbesan in his long history of Tinubu. He's certainly mixing up things or adding a touch of fiction to embellish his tales.

Very sad. He needs medical attention.

May God open doors of favor unto him. Amen

Iyatostrong:
I wonder if you still have mother. If you have, abeg go back to her. The solutions to your problem are with her not nairaland.
i am talking as a mother.

@OP
Take note of this advice. I understand her perfectly.

Havemercylord:
@omihanifa

SHE IS READY TO APPEASE HER MATES...
.VERY READY. BUT TO GATHER THE MONEY IS JUST HARD

This rarely works. It's usually a temporary measure according to some testimonies I've heard in Church. Go for proper deliverance in Churches known for serious spiritual warfare if need be.

Though you plan to leave her, still encourage her to go for deliverance for your child's sake. Generational spiritual issues are a different ballgame.

Life is difficult for most of us now moreso an orphan. Great pity.

SteadyGrinding:
You're just a fool claiming woke. Better go and take your spiritual life serious before they get you. Because it's your kind they always attack because they know y'all are not spiritually oriented

Only a fool speaks rudely to others.

I'm well grounded spiritually.

Sarkin:
I wonder where these idiots saw in the Quran or Hadith that anyone who blasphemes should be killed.

The stupid government needs to educate these animals but they won't.

When Prophet Muhammad(S.A.W) was alive, right in his face he was insulted and when his companions asked whether to strike the person dead, the prophet warned against that.

So after over 2000 years why should some illiterate animals in a 3rd world country pick up violence to deal with whatever they perceive as "blasphemy"?

They are so lost they believe they are doing God's work. But even God would reject them.

They can't understand this. They've been brainwashed to believe that they're fighting God's battle. Most people don't read the Holy Books on their own to seek the truth.

donofdons:
I am beginning to doubt whether these folks are musims. No true musim will attack a mosque especially during Friday prayers. Especially with the case of the non Muslims soldiers who attacked and killed a Muslim sheikh in yobe. If he wasn’t caught, it would have been said to be musim bandits.
Either these are not musims or they are living abomination who are known hell bounds so give not qualms about the hereafter.

Are the bandits truly religious? This isn't the first time that a Mosque is being attacked by them.

Clown