The Nigerian Navy has added 1,962 newly trained ratings to its active workforce to reinforce joint military operations across the country. The personnel were formally inducted by the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Idi Abbas, during the Passing Out Parade for Batch 37 at the Nigerian Navy Basic Training School (NNBTS) in Onne, Rivers State.
Abbas stated that the new ratings would be deployed to warships and operational units to support missions against oil theft, maritime crime, terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, and other security threats affecting Nigeria’s territorial and maritime domains.
He said NNBTS continues to fulfil its mandate of transforming civilians into competent naval personnel, adding that the induction is taking place at a critical moment when the country is grappling with multiple security pressures. He emphasized that strengthening naval manpower is vital to national security and economic stability.
According to him, the ratings underwent six months of intensive training, which now includes combat swimming, field-craft, visit-board-search-and-seizure drills, live-firing exercises, and other practical simulations introduced under the Navy’s expanded capacity-building programme.
Abbas instructed the new personnel to maintain discipline, professionalism, integrity, and teamwork, stressing that their conduct will directly influence Nigeria’s ability to protect its waters and support broader military operations.
The induction follows President Bola Tinubu’s recent declaration of a national security emergency, which mandates increased recruitment and intensified operations across the Armed Forces, Police, and Department of State Services (DSS). The directive also orders the redeployment of officers from VIP protection duties to frontline tasks and the deployment of trained forest guards to unstable areas.
Nigeria’s security situation continues to attract global concern. In November 2025, Tinubu rejected the United States’ designation of Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern”, describing the label as inconsistent with the government’s counterterrorism actions.
