Nigerian Navy Officer Wins International Award

Navy Captain Sunday Daniel Atakpa emerged as the Best Oralist in the Moot Court Competition during the summer course at the International Tribunal for the Law of Sea (ITLOS) held in Hamburg, Germany last month.

The programme was hosted by the International Foundation for the Law of the Seas (IFLOS). The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea Moot Court Competition which climaxed the one month training at the Tribunal had 34 participants from 28 countries of Europe, Americas, Asia and Africa.

It is the first time in the history of the tribunal that a non-lawyer would be winning the award. It was also the first time that an African and a military personnel would win the award.

Judge Doris König of the German constitutional court; Judge Helmut Türk, who is a retired judge of the Tribunal from Austria; Prof Dr Alexander Proel, who is the Chair of Public Law at University of Trier and Dr Dharshini Bandara – a legal practitioner in Germany constituted the panel of judges, which bestowed the award on Atakpa.

The outstanding Nigerian Navy officer was given the opportunity to stretch out the Nigerian flag from the line up of member state flags at the Tribunal.

NIGERIAN NAVY SHIP VICTORY CLAMPDOWNS MILITANT LEADER IN CALABAR

The Nigerian Navy on Wednesday said it would continue to clampdown on militant groups and criminal elements in the Niger Delta.

This is contained in a statement signed by its Director of Information, Commodore Christian Ezekobe, in Abuja.

It says the Nigerian Navy has arrested one of the top leaders of a group which goes by the name Bakassi Strike Force (BSF). The suspected Militant Mr Uduak Etim Thompson aka SANGATA was arrested on 12 September 2016 at his hideout in Calabar by a joint team from Nigerian Navy Ship VICTORY and Defence Intelligence Agency. It would be recalled that some top members of the BSF had earlier been arrested.

In a related development, the patrol team deployed by Naval Outpost (NOP) Ikuru arrested 4 suspected notorious sea robbers who were alleged to be responsible for several attacks and robbery incidences at Oyorokoro, Ataba, Kaa and Oyorokoro communities in Andoni Local government area of Rivers State. The gang was alleged to have particularly attacked market women on 4 September 2016 at Oyorokoro Community.

These arrests bring to fore the commitment of the Nigerian Navy and other security agencies to stamp out the menace of criminal brigandage in the region. Investigations into these untoward activities have commenced and the perpetrators will be handed over to prosecuting agencies for further action.

NIGERIAN NAVY COLLABORATES WITH FRENCH NAVY IN EXERCISE NEMO

The Director of Information (DINFO), Commodore Christian Ezekobe, in a statement said, two French Warships HPD DIXMUNDE and FF CODUING are leading a French maritime initiative under the Exercise NEMO series tagged Exercise NEMO 16.5 with the theme 'Maritime Structure on Securitisation’.

The Exercise is geared towards sharpening skills in anti-piracy and anti-illegal fishing. The Exercise also seeks to strengthen a 2013 agreement between the Economic Community of Central African States and the Economic Community of West African States to fight piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.

Exercise NEMO is being conducted in collaboration with the Nigerian Navy as well as navies of Gabon, Cameroun, Benin, Togo and Ghana among other countries in Gulf of Guinea.

The objectives of the Exercise include cooperation in the fight against piracy and illegal fishing in the Gulf as well as testing interoperability between participating navies. The vessels will carry out several exercises including a simulated attack on an oil tanker which will be tracked by Nigeria's Maritime Domain Awareness Capability Systems. Exercise NEMOs activities will be conducted in our waters between 13 and 16 September 2016 and NNS OKPABANA has been designated to partake in the Exercise.

NIGERIAN MARITIME CADETS CRY OUT

WE NEED DISCHARGE BOOK AND SEA-TIME ONLINE CAMPAIGN

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