The Nigerian Navy on Friday achieved a giant stride in the protection of the nation’s territorial waters as it launched the first locally made Seaward Defence Boat (SDB), named NNS ANDONI. The boat was solely constructed by engineers serving in the Nigerian Navy.
While commissioning the 31 meters Seaward Defence Boat at the Naval Dockyard in Lagos, President Goodluck Jonathan stressed the need for the development of capacity across sectors of the economy.
Urging Nigerians to start being ingenious, the president, expressed his delight that the Armed Forces can achieve such a feat, noting that this is beginning of the nation’s transformation which will lead the nation’s foray into space, in a little over a decade.
“Now, the Navy has shown another area of creativity and I am told that the Army has something in the offing. This is the beginning of transformation and I believe that in another 10-15 years, we will be thinking of starting a project of taking Nigeria to the air. We have just started and we will continue”
Noting the dearth of indigenous platforms in different sectors of the economy since the nation’s independence, the president said the grounding of such platforms was due to what he described as “lack of indigenous touch.”
He therefore, reiterated plans by his administration to grant scholarships to first class students of tertiary institutions to study in the best universities in the world, with a view to bringing such knowledge back and exploring it in the country.
The 31m Nigerian Navy SDB was conceived as a research and development project by Vice Admiral GTA Adekeye and Rear Admiral GJ Jonah who were then Chief of the Naval Staff and Chief of Naval Engineering respectively.