Elder statesman and foremost Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark,
has lambasted the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu, over the
Federal Government’s plan to establish a naval base in Kano State.
In an open letter addressed to Zubairu on Monday, Clark
decried the approval of a naval base in Kano, saying the move is one of the
nepotistic actions by the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu
Buhari (retd.).
Recall that Kano State Governor,
Abdullahi Ganduje, asked for the visibility of the Nigerian Navy to strengthen
security in the state, a request that led to the approval of the establishment
of a naval base in the state. He had also allocated 100 hectares of land for
the project.
But in his letter titled, ‘A Naval Base In Kano In The Heart
Of The Sahel?’, the foremost Ijaw leader described the project as “an example
of putting a square peg in a round hole.”
He said, “That a new Naval Base is being built in the middle
of the Sahel which the entire world knows is presently under threat of
fast-spreading desertification is totally ill-conceived and with all due
respect, parochial.”
Clark stated that the government should set up coastal areas
in the Niger Delta where much of Nigeria’s shoreline exists, adding that it is
ridiculous to build a naval base in Kano when Bayelsa, Delta and other coastal
areas have no functional naval base.
“If more Naval Bases are to be set up in the country, what
has happened to the coastal states of Nigeria, particularly in the Niger Delta
area where much of Nigeria’s shoreline exists and needs to be protected?
“I believe you know that at present there is no serious
Naval Base in such serious places such as Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta and Edo
States. In Delta State in particular, major coastal towns such as Sapele, where
there is need for a naval base, it is sad that there is no functional one.
There used to be a naval base there, but for reasons best known to the Federal
Government, it was downgraded to a training school, and in fact, almost
abandoned.
“The so-called Warri Naval Base is nothing to write home
about as today, the base is not functioning as it ought to be. Large navy
warships which used to patrol the waters, providing protection, can no longer
do so due to the fact that the place has stilted and the Federal Government has
refused to dredge it.
“Bayelsa State is entirely surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean
and the River Niger, yet there are no naval bases there to protect the shores
of Nigeria and the oil companies. For instance, the Bonga Oil Field which is
the largest oil field in Nigeria is in Bayelsa State. Two riverine communities,
Agae and Amatu communities, are at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, where oil
companies are located yet there is no naval base to protect them. The people
are left to their fate. The same can be said of Akwa Ibom and Ondo States.
“The question thence is, for instance, how possible will it
be to navigate a navy warship through the waters of Lagos to the desert naval
base in Kano which you want to build? Or is there a waterway to take one from
Lagos to Kano? Or you want to commit huge scarce resources to create artificial
ocean and rivers in a country that is so indebted? You think because you
control the government other Nigerians can be treated with impunity as second
class citizens?”
Continuing, Clark said, “The citing of a naval base world
over, is mainly for the provision of security along the waterways of the coasts
in order to provide security of a nation’s internal waters and its territorial
integrity. And this is done where there is water and not in the heart of dry
land.
“It is even difficult to decipher and more curious why you
intend to crowd the north which is already saturated with heavy military
infrastructure, especially in places like Kaduna and Kano States. (There must
be limit to nepotism and parochialism).”
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Chief Edwin Clark is absolutely correct about this matter. Naval Base in the North is ill-conceived, political and not in the interest of the entirety of Nigeria nation
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