Emmanuel Nlewedum, Port Harcourt
The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla has said that the welfare of personnel remain a top priority to the Nigerian Navy.
The CNS stated this on Wednesday in Port Harcourt shortly after commissioning some projects executed by the Headquarters of the Naval Training Command (HQ NAVTRAC), situated in Ebubu community, Eleme local government area of Rivers State.
Ogalla said the Navy under his leadership is doing everything possible to address series of challenges facing Naval personnel across the country.
The Chief of Naval Staff regretted that most personnel were being faced with accommodation challenges and the navy will stop at nothing to ensure it’s personnel live comfortably, to carryout their operations.
He said, “The Navy values the welfare of our personnel because we recognize human resources as the most important aspect of our operations.
“And for that reason, we have given them (Command) the charge to ensure that we rehabilitate all accomodations that are possible to rehabilitate, so that we can accommodate our personnel that are living outside the barracks as much as possible.
“And some of the places we have gone today was to access their level of performance in terms of rehabilitating most of the abandoned properties, as you can see, this building has been abandoned for a long time, it has been rehabilitated and this 56×1 block structure would be able to accommodate atleast fifty-six families. We still have three more blocks to rehabilitate here.”
The CNS added that, “At the Headquarters of the Naval Training Command where we were coming from, its the same process, rehabilitating and bringing back abandoned accomodations to become useful for us, because we have a very serious challenge of inadequate accomodations for personnel and we will put all our resources to make sure that whichever ones we can rehabilitate will be fixed, in addition to the new ones we are building in Port Harcourt and other areas.”
Ogalla however, commended the FOC in-charge of the Headquarters, Naval Training Command, Rear Admiral Istafanus Albara, and his team for doing a great job within a record time in the area.
He said, “they have done very well. Some of these projects started June and July this year, 2024. And you can see that they have been completed. That’s a very big and achievements and I commend them for that. And I encourage other Command’s and officers to also emulate the way they have carried out these tasks, and by so doing, we hope that we will be able to speed up provision of accomodations for our personnel.”
The projects commissioned by the Chief of Naval Staff included a newly built parade ground and pavilion, senior and junior Rates’ Mess, two renovated accommodation Blocks of 47 rooms each for ratings and the Command Officers’ Mess all situated inside the headquarters of the Naval Training Command.
Other completed projects inspected and commissioned by the CNS included; a Block of 56×1 bedroom flats at the Navy Barracks Borikiri Junior rates accomodations and the newly built Command Training House at the New GRA axis of Port Harcourt.
Earlier in his remark, the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Headquarters, Naval Training Command, Rear Admiral Istafanus Albara, thanked the Chief of Naval Staff for ensuring the development of the Headquarters of NAVTRAC which was relocated to Ebubu in Eleme local government area of Rivers State from Lagos in May, 2024.
He said the Command’s Headquarters has made significant achievement in the area of infrastructural development in the base after the relocation.
He said, “It is gladdening to state that the else-while dilapidated facility handed over to the Nigerian Navy here at Ebubu-Eleme is been gradually transformed into a serene naval Base. This has been possible due to the trust and confidence of Chief of Naval Staff on the officers and ratings of the Naval Training Command.
“It would interest all to note that these projects were all done under close supervision through direct labour. This is a testament of your (CNS’s) commitment towards human capacity development and to give the Nigerian Navy value for money. It has raised the morale and confidence of our personnel and has sharpened their skills in resource management. For this, we want to say thank you sir, for the confidence reposed on us,” he said .