SPANISH NAVY SHIP ‘RELAMPAGO’ ARRIVES NIGERIA ON 3-DAY TRAINING MISSION..CONDUCTS MINOR SEA EXERCISE WITH NIGERIAN NAVY SHIPS, NNS NWAMBA AND NNS ANDONI OFFSHORE LAGOS

NNS ANDONI P100, proudly made-in-Nigeria

VANGUARD
January 12, 2013
By EVELYN USMAN

The Spanish Navy Friday in Lagos,
exempted Nigeria from one of the
pirate prone regions On the African
continent, clarifying that the only
maritime challenge plaguing the
country was sea robbery. This assertion, has apparently disclaimed reports by the
International Maritime Bureau which
listed Nigeria and four other African
countries along the continent’s sea
coast as areas prone to pirate attacks.

The Commanding Officer, Spanish
Navy Ship MV RELAMPAGO, Lt Commander Tanago De La Lastra,made the clarification during a joint press briefing with the Nigerian Navy at the Naval Training Command, NAVTRAC, Apapa Lagos. Lieutenant Commander Lastra whose country’s ship arrived Lagos Thursday, disclosed that currently, only Somalia was experiencing piracy attacks, a worrisome development, he said. He,however,expressed satisfaction
over Nigerian Navy’s (NN)effort to tackle maritime insecurity in the country as well as its overwhelming presence in the Gulf of Gunea, informing that during his ship’s six months tour of six countries within the African continent, insecurity on the waterways was not as high as it was projected.

Earlier, the Commander Operations of
the Western Naval Command, Rear
Admiral Henry Babalola, explained that during the three-day visit of the Spanish Navy ship, training of NN personnel on how to tackle evolving maritime challenges would be carried out.

Already, he disclosed that before entering Lagos harbour, the Spanish
ship carried out exercises offshore Lagos with NNS NWAMBA and NNS ANDONI,two NN warships.