• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Nigernian Navy History Phase III: 1989 – 1998

• Mar 90 NN Shipyard, Port Harcourt aquired from witt and Busch
• Aug 90 NN Ships deployed for ECOMOG operations in Liberia
• 27 Aug 90 Naval Dockyard, victoria Island re-commissioned after modernization
• 1991 Establishment of FOB IBAKA
• 1997 NUA relocated from Garki to Mogadishu Barracks, Abuja

The period between 1989 to 1998, Nigerian Navy ships were actively used for Peace Support Operations in Liberia and Sierra Leone for ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG). The major operations at this period were the successful landing of ECOMOG troops at Free Port of Monrovia. The capture of Buchanan and successful bombardment of Port of Haper and environs during Operation OCTOPUS in Liberia were some of Operationsduring this period. Messrs Dornier technical support continued for most of this period.

However, maintenance was difficult especially after using up the stockpile of critical spares without replenishment because of the international embargo on Nigeria. The annulled 1993 election and continuation of Military rule in Nigeria was responsible for the international sanctions imposed on Nigeria between 1993 and 1998. Nonetheless, maximum useof the NND was made and the ingenuity of Nigerian Navy technical workforce was brought to bear through improvisation of spares to sustain maintenance.. This singular act on the part of Nigerian Navy authorities marked a turning point at improving the technologically underdeveloped environment of the Nigerian Navy. In fact, it marked the localization of ship refit, and at the same time the decline in PMS implementation, poor funding and termination of technical supportof Messrs Dornier and MTU representatives in the Nigerian Navy. Consequently, the spare parts that normally come through a third party (Messrs Dornier) could not come because of the international sanction imposed on Nigeria. So inadequate funding, attrition of foreign trained technical personnel and deteriorating support facilities at this period adversely affected maintenance.

This led to the partial commissioning and modernization of NND in 1990.. The major upgrade of NND was intended to provide depot level maintenance for the newly acquired ships and to contribute immensely to the technological upgrading of the Nigerian Navy, but this expectation remained an unfulfilled dream years after it came on stream despite the state of the art workshops because some of the equipment were never commissioned due to lack of funds or skills. These workshops include plating workshop, quality assurance workshop, and mechanical workshop. Others are ship building facility, submarine building facility, 3 graving docks of 10,000 tons capacity with adimension of 180m x 24m x 12m, a twin dock, and a slipway.

Despite this provision in the NND, the engineering activity was still limited to maintenance and repair, and that too was subjected to the availability of imported spare parts. No concerted effort was made to move to the next technological activity, which is to modify or adapt or produce spare components. There is no doubt that the repair of the machine stage was also being threatened by lack of spare parts. One of the problems with the equipment installed in the dockyard is that they are not put into use largely because of funds to commission them or as a result of lack of skill. There is therefore under utilization of the capital stock in various workshops. Although some fabrication is going on in the mechanical workshop, this activity is insignificant, not coordinated and they are employed as a last option.

Foundry is the art of casting metal into shapes. It is the fulcrum on which all development in automobile railways, shipbuilding and other machine industries revolve. There is a foundry in the NND; but it is a non-ferrous type. However, it is believed that there are over 40 foundry industries in the country. Most of the commercial ones are located in Lagos. Therefore, the NND can make use of these facilities while arrangement could be made for the installation of a ferrous foundry.

Various factors prevented Nigerians from adaptive technology or the local production of spare parts. Spare parts can be made by Nigerians. But spare parts are not made by Nigerians because the ingredients needed to make the spare parts are not there. Other ingredients are skill mix ratio and man power requirements. The International Labour Organization (ILO) indicated that the skill-mix ratio between engineers, technicians and skilled craftsmen in a developing world should be in the range of 1:5:25 in order to secure operation of the manufacturing sector. In the NND the total number of engineering cadre as obtained from its April 2009 staff strength is 286. This is further broken down to 31 engineers, 128 technicians and 117 skilled craftsmen, a ratio of 1:4:3.8. The deficiency is more pronounced in the craftsmen category, because the NND Apprentice School stopped training men in 1992. The school had trained more technicians and very few craftsmen before it was closed down.

The workshop at the NND were already making an impact on ships availability and naval operations especially after the various Structural Adjustment Programs had caused a paucity of foreign exchange for importation of goods. Apart from the facilities in the NND, those in the Shipyard Port Harcourt and Fleet Support Group could also be effectively utilized to alimited extent. Around the country, Aladja Delta Steel Company has a well-equipped machine shop, a central laboratory with equipment for metallurgy, X-ray spectrometry and alloy analysis. The Machine Tools Company at Oshogbo has an installed capacity of about 179 machine tools as of 2009. Special fabrication work could be carried out for the Nigerian Navy at these centers. However, more positive impact could still be made if all these facilities in Oshogbo machine tools and Aladja were properly coordinated and good synergy made.

It is not only lack of spare parts, or technicalman power that is responsible for the Nigerian Navy's technologically underdeveloped environment but lack of Research and Development (R&D) and inability of Nigeria to emphasize science and technology education in its tertiary schools. This is coupled with uncoordinated nature of various research institutions in the country. The Centre of Adaptation Technology (CAT) at Awka for example, has been designated as the centre of excellence in electronics. The centre was established in 1993 to research on, develop and manufacture consumer and industrial electronic devices and the production plant for them. Such systems include basic electronic components and course ware, circuits,communication and IT equipment, solar and other cells as well aselectronics enabling systems for industries. CAT has identified, through market survey, some consumer electronics, as being in high demand and has completed the adaptation techniques on most of them. It include well overtwenty consumer electronic products like: Toll Gate Monitor, NEPA lamp,Automatic Voltage Regulator, all electronics systems with Printed Circuit Board (PCB), CAT personal Computers, to mention a few. A lot could be learned by the Nigerian Navy from CAT especially in electronics adaptation, which was not the practice.

Similarly, the Scientific Equipment Development Institute (SEDI), Enugu as part of its objectives is the local manufacture of essential spare parts, to serve the needs of educational institutions, hospitals, research institutes and private sector industries. The local manufacturer of spare parts for industries is also an on-going project. In fact, some of the machines in use at the factory were designed and built locally by the staff of the institute. There are numerous R&D going on in the private sector, at the Federal and State levels including universities and polytechnics. These are all encouraging signals for the rest of the country. These institutes are established so that knowledge and skill could be tapped from them.

The entire period (1988–1998) did not witness any new acquisition of ships because the battle to keep the fleet afloat had started. This period witnessed the partial commissioning of the NND and establishment of CAT and SEDI within the country. The beginning of repairs at third level maintenance in Nigerian Navy started with the partial commissioning of NND but it was not without problems of lack of spare parts, skilled manpower, and other logistics. Thus, the technological environment did not provide the necessary support to cope with the rate of deterioration of the ships. Generally, maintenance and ship availability were unsatisfactory for most of this period, owing partly to the international embargo and lack of maintenance culture. By the end of 1999, these factors had taken their toll on the NN ships to the extent that Nigerian Navy lacked credible presence at sea.

Between years 2003 and 2007, the NN vigorously pursued the refit and maintenance of ships through the ongoing local refit program. However, due to lack of readily available spare parts, the program is yet to achieve the dramatic impact of resuscitating most of the non-operational ships. Though the modest achievement attained so far has provided additional platforms needed for patrols, the NN still lacks adequate platforms to effectively police the vast maritime environment.