SAN FRANCISCO, February 02, (THEWILL) – The Chief of the Naval Staff, (CNS) Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas has revealed that the Nigerian Navy confiscated Navy confiscated crude oil and diesel worth about N420 billion in 2016.
Ibas made this known in his 2017 budget defence at the House of Representatives stating that the specific quantity of crude oil and diesel confiscated stood at 810,725 and 1,078 metric tonnes respectively.
He revealed that for the year 2017, the Navy plans to expend about N26.446 billion on capital projects with the priority areas listed as fleet renewal, operational infrastructure upgrade, operational logistics procurement, capacity development and personnel welfare.
Giving a breakdown of the achievements of the Service in 2016, the CNS revealed that the Nigerian Navy destroyed 181 illegal refineries, 263 wooden boats, 38 barges, 139 Geepee tanks, 148 pumping machines, arrested 784 suspects, 22 crude vessels, 53 wooden boats, 145 outboard engines, 135 speed boats, 27 tankers, seized 2,974 drums and recovered 468 arms, 1,659 ammunitions in 2016.
Furthermore, he said the Nigerian Navy confiscated 210 storage tanks, 47 vehicles, 15 motorcycles, 4,753 jerrycans, 27 power generating sets, 224 surface tanks, 24 hoses, 17 welding machines and 33 other vessels, reiterating that the feat was despite the reduction in overhead with only N2.5bn released out of about N3.4bn appropriated in 2016.
He said out of the N56.463 billion appropriated for personnel cost in 2016, N49.656bn was released, while the sum of N205.879 million was generated as Internally Generated Revenue and remitted to the government via the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
The chairman House Committee on Navy, Honourable Abdulsamad Dasuki, commended the Nigerian Navy for performing credibly well, despite insufficient funding and other operational challenges, but observed that an estimated N3trillion ($10bn) was lost in revenue due to Nigerian Navy’s inability to carry out statutory duties, reiterating that the Navy’s budgetary allocations must be realistic.
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