Naval War College Nigeria (NWCN) on Friday graduated 21 participants from the Nigerian Navy after a 3 week intensive leadership and management training. The officers were the fourth set of graduands from the capstone course since the inception of the College in 2017.  The Course is aimed at enhancing effective leadership and management among middle level cadre officers of Lieutenant Commander and Commander ranks and it focuses on subject areas such as emotional intelligence, self-awareness, ethics, communication skills, teamwork, command climate and leadership.

Speaking during the graduation ceremony the special Guest of Honour Rear Admiral Ibrahim Dewu, The Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Naval Command charge the participants to be ready to take up responsibility that would challenge and test he knowledge and skills you have acquire in the College. He therefore urged them to brace up to the challenges and prove their mettle as worthy ambassadors of the Naval War College.

The Acting Commandant of the College, Commodore Abolade Ogunleye said the course was geared towards enhancing effectiveness in Command, leadership and management of the graduates. He noted that in the past three weeks that the course lasted, that the participants have been made to focus on self-awareness, ethics, communication skills and contemporary approach to management of men, material and resources. He said: “I am therefore convinced that you the graduate have imbibed these noble objectives and will be more effective in the discharge of Command responsibilities at the tactical and operational levels

Naval Warfare Course 5 Graduation Ceremony

The Naval War College Nigeria on Friday 19 Nov 21 graduated 22 officers from the Naval Warfare Course 5. The officer’s were made up of 2 from the Nigerian Army, 18 from the Nigerian Navy and 2 from the Nigerian Airforce. The graduates are the 5th set since the inception of the College in 2017.
The participants were urged to bring to bear what they have been taught during the course for the benefit of Nigeria’s Security Environment. The Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen Bashir Magashi (Rtd) was presented by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, charged the participants to situate themselves in the complexities environment. The Minister also commended the Commandant of the College Rear Admiral MM Bashir, the Faculty Members and the Administrative Staff of Naval War College Nigeria for their dedication and tireless efforts towards training the Graduands. The Commandant of the college, Real Admiral Murtala Bashir in his welcome address said since the establishment of the College in 2017, that the College has chummed out officers from the 3 Services. Adding that the College is designed to be a centre of excellence in Naval and joint military training and maritime security studies in the sub-region. He said “The graduates are now finished product ready to be deployed into the field to contribute their quota toward providing security in the country”.

A total of 22 participants of Naval Warfare Course (NWC) 5 were formally inaugurated by the Commandant Rear Admiral Murtala Mormoni Bashir on 9 April 2021. The Course comprised of 18 naval officers, 2 officers from the Nigerian Army and Nigerian Air Force respectively. The Commandant, in his address urged the Participants of the NWC 5 to take advantage of the robust curriculum so as to better equip themselves with the right professional knowledge and skills needed to tackle the various security challenges currently facing the nation which they will be deployed to manage. This is in line with the mission of the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) which is “to optimize the deployment of the Nigerian Navy in the performance of her constitutional roles and the undertaking of the assigned tasks while promptly responding with commensurate actions to other emerging national security challenges”. Therefore, the Commandant formally inaugurated the participants into Naval Warfare Course 5.

In the same vein, the CNS Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo _AM ably represented by the Flag officer Commanding Eastern Naval Command Rear Admiral Sanusi Kashim Ibrahim in his welcome address tasked Participants to note that their Inauguration coincides with the beginning of a new era in the Nigerian Navy and as professional officers, they must quickly key into the CNS Vision which is “to leverage on all factors of national location, technology, training, team work and enhance her as a well-motivated and ready naval force in the discharge of her constitutional mandates in fulfillment of national security objectives” he also further reminded the Participants that it has becomes necessary that they are trained to understand the contemporary security environment towards the realization of the CNS vision by thinking outside the box in order to develop workable strategies. The CNS also reminded that the Naval Warfare Course was conceived to develop intellectual, cognitive and analytic ability to enable them articulate enduring polices and strategies  that would address our current and emerging security challenges. He further urged the participants to take the Course seriously, learn as much as they can so as to derive maximum benefit from the rich, robust and highly educative course content. Some pictures of the ceremony are shown below.

Rear Admiral Murtala Mormoni Bashir is the New Commandant Naval War College Nigeria (NWCN), sequel to the recent appointment of senior officers in the Nigerian Navy. He took over from Rear Admiral Adeseyi Oke Ayobanjo who has been appointed to Naval Headquarters Abuja. The Handing and Taking over Ceremony took place on 22 March 2021. In line with NWCN tradition, part of the activities for the handing and taking ceremony include valedictory address, formal signing of the handing and taking over notes between the outgoing and the incoming commandants and handing over of NWCN Insignia.

The outgoing Commandant Rear Admiral Adeseyi Oke Ayobanjo in his farewell address to the College narrated his ability to realise the institutional mandate of the college in the areas of conducting the Naval Warfare Course, Command Level Officers’ Courses, the sustainment of strategic training partnership with institutions such as NDC, British Military Advisory Training Team (BMATT) & selected university in Nigeria. Other areas were enabling access to the HQ NAVTRAC  e-Library to enrich the scope of participants research effort. He also seized the opportunity to appreciate Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Admiral Awwal Zubair Gambo for profound leadership. He also thanked the past and present members of faculty, officers, ratings and civilian staff of NWCN for their untiring efforts towards realising the College’s mandate during his tour of duty. He further implored the NWCN community to extend their commitment and support to the incoming Commandant.

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Some pictures of the graduation ceremony are shown below.

The Naval War College Nigeria graduated 25 officers from the Command Level Officers Course on Friday 5 February 2021. The officers were the third set of graduands from the capstone course since the inception of the College in 2017. Amongst the graduands is the first female officer to attend the Command Level Officers Course Lieutenant Commander Eseoghene Godspower. The Course is aimed at enhancing effective leadership and management among middle level cadre officers of Lieutenant Commander and Commander ranks and it focuses on subject areas such as emotional intelligence, self-awareness, ethics, communication skills, teamwork, command climate and leadership.

The erstwhile Commandant NWCN Rear Admiral AO Ayobanjo in his welcome address enjoined the participants to use the knowledge gained on the Course to uphold the vision of the Chief of the Naval Staff Rear Admiral AZ Gambo which is to leverage on all factors of national location, technology, training, teamwork and synergy to re-energize the Nigerian Navy and enhance her as a well motivated and ready naval force in the discharge of her constitutional mandate and other assigned tasks in fulfillment of national security objectives.

The Special Guest of Honour Rear Admiral Perry Onwezulike in his speech reminded the graduands that Nigeria’s maritime domain is still beset with plethora of illegalities and threats that affect the overall security of Nigeria and thus their skillful exercise of command and leadership especially at the tactical level of operations is required to address the current challenges. He also stated that the Nigerian Navy is engaged in various operations to curtail myriads of security challenges including piracy, anti-crude oil theft, banditry, kidnapping and the insurgency in the North East. He therefore reminded the graduands that they would be required to partake in addressing these challenges based on their training. The special guest of honour commended the erstwhile Commandant of the College Rear Admiral AO Ayobanjo and the College community for upholding the core values of the Nigerian Navy which is teamwork, integrity and professionalism.

Some pictures of the graduation ceremony are shown below.

The Naval War College Nigeria on Friday 27 Nov 20 graduated 21 officers from the Naval Warfare Course 4. The officer’s were made up of 2 from the Nigerian Army, 18 from the Nigerian Navy and one from the Nigerian Airforce. The graduates are the 4th set since the inception of the College in 2017.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony held at the Vice Admiral UO Jibrin Auditorium Eastern Naval Command in Calabar. The Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Magashi (rtd) charged the Graduands to be more innovative and explore contemporary ways and means to tackle the changing nature of warfare, which poses new challenges to security forces. The Minister who was represented by the erstwhile Chief of Defence Staff, General AG Olonisakin (rtd) commended the erstwhile Commandant of the College Rear Admiral AO Ayobanjo, the Faculty Members and the Administrative Staff of Naval War College Nigeria for their dedication and tireless efforts towards training the Graduands. He also commended the erstwhile Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Admiral IE Ibas(rtd) for his sustained efforts in taking the Nigerian Navy to an enviable level of professionalism.

Earlier, the erstwhile Commandant Naval War College Nigeria (NWCN), Rear Admiral Adeseye Oke Ayobanjo commended Governor Wike for hosting the Team. He said the theme of the visit is: “Curbing Pipeline Vandalism Towards Enhancing Socio-Economic Development in Rivers State”. In choosing to carry out this Study Tour, we recognize that the Rivers State Government and other security agencies have been doing so much to curb the menace of pipeline vandalism. The Commandant also stated that the purpose of the tour was to consolidate theoretical knowledge gained from the series of lectures on National Security and Organization of Defence Module which is a major package of the NWC Curriculum. The Team was made up of the Commandant, Directing Staffs and 21 participants of NWC 4. Some of the places toured by the participants includes: NNS PATHFINDER, 6 Division Nigerian Army, NSCDC and NDDC amongst others.

Some pictures from the state tour are shown below.

He said when personal interest supersedes national interest, the operation will fail and the personal interest will invariably fail because it is always temporary. “When you get to your units after your training, look for other agencies and form a synergy as no one agency can ensure maritime security alone. If we have an improved Maritime Domain Awareness, there will be reduced maritime crimes,” the FOC said.

Similarly, in his address, R Adm AO Ayobanjo, the erstwhile Commandant NWCN, said the objective of the Seminar was to harness the expertise of respective maritime agencies through cooperation in combating maritime insecurity. According to the erstwhile Commandant, the maritime environment was the ‘life blood’ of Nigeria’s economy, conveying over 85 per cent of the total volume of the nation’s international trade as well as a store house of living and non-living resources harnessed by the nation. While the protection of the nation’s maritime environment has been provided by the Nigerian Navy in collaboration with other maritime agencies, some undesirable elements sometimes undermine this effort through crude oil theft, piracy, marine pollution and smuggling among others. Combating these attendant maritime security challenges in Nigeria’s maritime environment is a shared responsibility between the Nigerian Navy and other maritime agencies; it is in recognition of this that the Seminar was organised.

R Adm Stanford Enoch (Rtd), the Guest Speaker, opined that this Seminar would provide answers to address the collaboration deficits in the use of Maritime Domain Awareness systems to combat maritime security challenges in the nation’s maritime environment. The guest speaker who delivered a lecture titled “Maritime Domain Awareness: A Prerequisite for Curbing Smuggling Activities in Nigeria’s Maritime Environment”, said no nation would close its eyes and allow criminality thrive within its waterways. He also added that to check smuggling, there must be a centralized coordination and national policy on Maritime Domain Awareness that clearly defines concept of operations, command and control, information interchange as well as intercept capabilities.