Jonathan pledges routing Boko Haram, inaugurates 4 NN ships

President Goodluck Jonathan has reassured Nigerians that the armed forces now have sufficient capacity to rout the Boko Haram sect from the North Eastern part of the country. The president, who commissioned four massive ships at the Nigerian Navy Dockyard, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Thursday, reiterated that the March 28 and April 11 elections would go ahead as scheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He said his administration has made it a deliberate policy to properly equip and improve the security architecture available for officers and men of the Nigerian army and Nigerian air force, adding that this is why there is now positive stories coming from the North East recently. “Let me also use this platform to promise my good country men and women that we will rout BokoHaram. Our capacity to achieve results in the North East has increased sufficiently. Our men and officers are doing well in the North East and we must conduct the elections as scheduled by INEC. We will return the North to safety,” the president said. The president com- mended officers and men of the Nigerian army who are fighting the terrorists in the North East, saying he was very impressed with the reports of successes coming out of the zone. Speaking on the Nigerian Navy, the president said government’s investment in providing crucial equipment and facilities for maritime operations is responsible for the significant reduction in the cases of oil theft and other maritime crimes. According to him, the four commissioned ships are part of his administration’s transformation agenda in the security sector, adding that it will further boost the capacity of the Navy to fight maritime crimes.
The four ships commissioned were Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Okpabana; Nigerian Navy Ship Sagbama; Nigerian Navy Ship Prosper- ity and Nigerian Navy Ship Centenary. President Jonathan also announced that the ships are part of six which will be commissioned for the Navy this year, adding that one of the ships which came from the United States was the 6th from that country since 2002.