By Onwa Ekor, Calabar
In his determined efforts aimed at ensuring adequate security and economic advancement along the coastlines of the proposed Bakassi deep seaport and the Bakassi Peninsula viccinity, the Cross River governor, Prince Bassey Otu, has advocated stronger ties with the Nigerian Navy.
Addressing the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla, at the Navy headquarters, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Otu said his visit was geared towards solidifying the existing relationship between the Cross River government and the Naval authority.
The meeting had among other issues focused on strengthening collaboration for security and economic advancement along the coastlines of the proposed Bakassi Deep Seaport in Cross River.
The governor who listed some of the numerous Naval establishments in the state including Nigerian Navy Ship VICTORY, the Eastern Naval Command, the Naval War College and Nigerian Navy Reference Hospital among other infrastructures, maintained that, there was need for improved security to protect them.
He called for an enhanced Naval presence with operational base along the maritime border between Nigeria and Cameroon at the Bakassi maritime area, a location which the Cameroon authorities have continuously maintained adequate security control while the Nigeria side remains under-protected and unsecured.
Otu stressed the need for adequate Naval assistance to boost coastal investments, ports development including the safeguarding of national oil assets and platforms, within the state.
He sued for bathymetric survey that would provide data while enhancing navigation and dredging operations including other land projects in the area.
Otu also explained that bathymetric surveys are valuable for dock and harbour engineering, flood management and prevention, river maintenance, irrigation, and water power.
The meeting further berth, as part of its collaborative gains, vistas of employment opportunities, stimulation of economic growth, regional peace stability especially along the Bakassi coastal area as well as boosting synergy with Cameroon to address mutual security challenges aimed at realising the proposed Bakassi Deep Seaport.
Responding, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, pledged the Nigerian Navy’s cooperation with the Cross River government to initiate bathymetric surveys of the new Bakassi Islands within Nigeria’s territory to drive economic prosperity.
Ogalla expressed gratitude to the governor for the visit and reiterated the Nigerian Navy’s dedication to ensuring constant Naval presence, particularly along the coastal areas, the border regions and the vicinity of the proposed Bakassi Deep Seaport.
Accompanying the Cross River governor on the visit were the State Surveyor General, Surveyor Patrick Bassey and the Senior Special Adviser to the governor on International cooperation and investments, Rev. Victor Edet.
