Ogun grants Navy 100 hectares for base, dockyard

The Ogun State Government has allocated a total of 100 hectares of land to the Nigerian Navy for the establishment of a Naval Base and Dockyard.

Speaking while receiving the state governor, Dapo Abiodun, on a courtesy visit at Naval Headquarters on Friday, the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, said Ogun, being an industrial hub and strategic state, required the presence of the Nigerian Navy to secure investments.

Ogalla said, “Ogun state is strategic in the nation, and it is strategic with us in our activities, which cannot be effectively done without the collaboration of key stakeholders like the state. We listen to the proposal the governor has towards developing states all geared towards promoting economic activities.

“He proposed molecular LNG and molecular blue seaport and also the development of the ‘Tongaji’ Island, these are investments that will attract a number of US dollars of up to N10bn into the Nigerian economy. These investments can’t be without security.”

Ogalla assured that the Nigerian Navy high command would do what was necessary to ensure the Base came alive in the next few days.

He said, “We must make sure we fulfil this aspect, which is the provision of security. We’ll move without waiting to establish these facilities, we make steps towards identifying suitable locations for this Naval Base. The committee has done a good job choosing a location that is close to these strategic investments that are coming into Ogun State.

“I’m glad that you have already allocated 100 hectares of land. I want to assure the governor that we’ll do what is necessary as speedily as possible to make sure that this objective is actualised”

Earlier, Abiodun said he was at the Naval Headquarters to deepen collaboration between the Nigerian Navy and the state government.

The governor presenting the land documents said the state had attained frontier status and was expecting the commencement of oil exploration, hence the need for the naval base and dockyard.

He said, “Only about three or four months ago, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited came and declared that Ogun State had now qualified for frontier status.

“And that is a status that is declared in areas where they believe that there are petroleum resources available from all locations. This is justified to them because we obtained studies that are probably about 60 years old from Shell, showing that Shell had drilled some wells around the other side of Tongaji Island about 60 years ago, but as soon as they found oil in Delta, they abandoned those wells and never came back.

“So they declared us and gave us frontier status. Exploration of oil means that we have one of the most abundant deposits of bitumen as well in Ogun State. And we are convinced that in no distant future, Ogun State will be declared an oil-producing state. We have submitted this and this was one of the reasons I began to encourage discussions between myself and the Nigerian Navy team.

“So a team was sent out to come and take a look at the sites that would be suitable to have a naval base and a naval dockyard. Another reason why we thought this was important besides the frontier business status is the Natural Gas Project, the LNG project, which had been on the drawing board for several years.”