As Nigeria’s seamen ‘show off’

The Nigerian Navy must be the most intelligent in the world! That’s because the seamen thought up an idea that should make their sister armed forces jealous – they got Dame Patience Jonathan on their guest list in January. They didn’t even plan it on a small scale, or anywhere near home. China. Far away China was where the seamen had persuaded the First Lady to come and be their guest.

And she too had been all motherly about it. Mothers rarely say no, do they? So she crossed several seas to launch ships for the Navy in a shipyard in China. But no one should forget that she got a beautiful ship in her own right in the process. As a matter of fact, the ship which was a gift was very large yet she had carried it all by herself. Some curious Nigerians will wonder what kind of ship it is, of course. It’s a prototype, and that’s a privileged piece of information for those who didn’t watch the TV footages of the event. As a matter of fact, Dame had collected her ship, cut red ribbon for the navy’s two ships and said, “I hereby declare the ship commissioned; you may continue the building processes.”  The excited clapping that followed from everyone present must have been heard across China. One thing was obvious on that occasion; the Nigerian Navy had something to say, and it wanted Nigerians to hear it. Its other activities since that outing indicate the same. In case the seamen didn’t mean to say anything however, this piece is an opportunity to let them know what Nigerians assumed all of that grand ceremony in China meant.

Meanwhile, one way to justify what the seamen have done by inviting Dame Jonathan rests in tradition: Females are generally preferred by seamen to launch ocean vessels, and such launch and the journeys across seas are shrouded in superstitions. In some cultures, the launch involves breaking a bottle of champagne over the bow of the ship. At such an event, seamen among ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans called on their gods for protection.

For instance, participants at ship launch in ancient Greece wreathed their heads with olive branches, drank wine to honour the gods, and poured water on the new vessel as a symbol of blessing. Shrines were carried on board ancient Greek and Roman ships, and this practice extended into the Middle Ages. The shrine was usually placed at the quarterdeck, an area which till date continues to have ceremonial significance. Different peoples and cultures shaped the religious ceremonies surrounding a ship launch. Jews and Christians used wine and water as they called upon God to safeguard them at sea; and Christians ask for intercession of the saints and the blessing of the church.

Ship launch in the Ottoman Empire were accompanied by prayers to Allah, the sacrifice of sheep, and feasting. French ship launch and christening in the 18th and early 19th centuries had rites that resembled marriage and baptismal ceremonies: A godfather for the new ship presented a godmother with a bouquet of flowers as both said the ship’s name. No bottle was broken, but a priest pronounced the vessel’s name and blessed it with holy water. Indian ships were launched with a Puja ceremony where Hindu priests presided, and more recently ships are launched with a lady breaking a coconut on the bow of the vessel.

Japanese ship launch incorporates silver axes which are thought to bring good luck and scare away evil. Japanese shipbuilders traditionally order the crafting of a special axe for each new vessel. Sponsors of British warships are customarily members of the royal family, senior naval officers, or Admiralty officials. A few civilians were invited to sponsor Royal Navy ships during the 19th century when women became sponsors for the first time. Queen Victoria commissioned the warship, Royal Arthur, in 1891, and as the traditional brightly beribboned bottle of champagne crashed upon the vessel’s cutwater, the Queen had exclaimed, “I name thee Royal Arthur.”

And the superstitious angle to a female christening ships was heightened when Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall and current wife of England’s Prince Charles, christened a 2,014-passenger ship in 2007. The champagne bottle was expected to break. It didn’t. Seamen considered this a bad omen, and when the first cruises of the ship, Queen Victoria, witnessed rounds of intense vomiting among its passengers later on, the unbroken champagne bottle incident led to the term, “The Curse of Camilla.” That’s it for a reason the Nigerian Navy picked Dame Jonathan to launch its vessels. But what  were the two vessels for? The Offshore Patrol Vessels, OPVs, are the first Navy’s  acquisition in over two decades and they are for combat, arrest, and surveillance.

While Dame Jonathan launched, she said she brought Nigerian officers at the shipyard in China greetings from Mr. President. She had spoken more crisply, her tone much more stable.  She said she was happy with the shipyard staff in Wuchang who had worked alongside Nigerians for the timely completion of the first OPV; she congratulated the Nigerian Navy, appealed to the officers to continue to show  “professionalism,  integrity and loyalty” and added that Nigerians waited for the ships to contribute to the security of the nation’s maritime sector. And that’s the point. At the occasion, Navy’s boss said his men were ready to do Nigeria proud, admitted that his men faced challenges, but he was full of appreciation to the President for the recapitalization of the Navy and the approval to procure the OPVs.

With the mention of the need to contribute to the security of the maritime sector, the duty of the seamen is cut out for them. Illegal crude oil bunkering costs the nation. Between October 2012 and September  2013, the Navy says it destroyed 1,556 illegal oil refineries, 103 barges, 69,606 auxiliary equipment and 1,443 large wooden boats and arrested 1,646 suspects.  It also said two hijacked vessels with 17,000 metric tonnes of gasoline were rescued.

The Navy says it’s in order to do this the more that the OPVs are being built. One is to be fully built in China and the second will be completed by Nigerians at the Naval Shipyard Limited, Port Harcourt. The Navy adds that it has also acquired a U.S. Coast Guard Ship and that all naval officers in Commanding positions will be required to sign performance contracts.

One shouldn’t forget to add that the Navy had also gone around the world not long ago to show off its new self. In 2013, the Navy participated in an event called, “Show of flag” in Australia among 17 other nations, and on their way back the seamen had dropped by in Cape Town, South Africa, and then in Congo Brazzaville where the three Nigerian ambassadors in three countries in the region had hosted them. Then late February, the Italian Navy came to Nigeria’s shore in a collaborative endeavour, training Nigeria’s men in maritime security in the process. This catalogue is to show the activities that have been on-going  in the Navy, another way of pointing out why the series of heightened economic sabotage in the oil sector and on the sea is rather unacceptable.

As things stand, oil industry’s managers claim they pay heavy amounts to security outfits to keep the pipelines safe. The Navy parades illegal refiners, yet there are claims of heavy loses to the nation in oil revenues. All of that calls attention to the need for a fundamental review in maintaining security in the oil as well as the maritime sector. Nigeria has launched satellite into space.

The oil sector is vital to the nation’s economy: What if the long line of the nation’s pipelines is made one of the priorities for the satellite to focus on, with a control room under the Navy where it can look out for unusual activities and rapidly deploy forces. And does the Navy pay attention to its air power, which can be of advantage in encounters with saboteurs offshore and onshore? The Navy and other security outfits need to be more in the air, and it’s puzzling  they are not. With more capacity for aerial surveillance both in the maritime sector and in the North-East corner of the country, there will be a turn of tide in these battles. With the manner insurgents attack repeatedly in the North-East while oil industry managers blame pipeline vandalism for diverse woes, there’s no point emphasizing that the nation’s armed forces need to deploy every advantage it has to the fullest.

Nothing done along that line can be too much, not with the situation in which Nigeria finds itself. So at this time, what Nigeria’s seamen especially have acquired in OPVs, training and foreign partnerships are not just what Nigerians want to see, they also want to see such acquisitions translating into freedom for the nation from its troublers.