The Chief of Naval Staff, (CNS ), Vice-
Admiral Usman Jubrin over the weekend, warned officers and ratings of
the Nigerian Navy (NN) to stop being hostile to the civilians, stressing
that jail term awaits any personnel who kills a civilian.
His words: “Any personnel, whose action
leads to the death of a civilian, would be court-martial and handed over
to the Police for further investigation and prosecution.”
Jubrin’s warning may not be unconnected
with latest report of an alleged death of a civilian in the hands of naval
personnel in Lagos during an argument that snowballed into exchange of
fisticuffs.
Further addressing the men of the Nigerian
Navy at the NNS Quorrah, Jubrin described the incident between the naval
personnel and civilians as embarrassing and uncalled for.
He urged his men to shift their
focus and energy on Nigerians common enemy; the Boko Haram.
Jubrin said: “Civilians are supposed
to be our common friends, not our common enemies! Our common enemies are
members of the Boko Haram. We should not declare civilians as our common enemy.
Rather, we should see them as people we should work with by getting information
that we’ll use in the fight against Boko Haram. Sometimes our behaviors to our
civilian colleagues remain totally embarrassing. We should realise that the
service is serviced by tax payers’ money. Therefore, you cannot afford conflict
to exist between you.”
Jubrin said that as a result of the
fighting with civilians, there had been some litigation against naval personnel.
He noted that some naval personnel even stooped to stabbing civilians in the
process of a fight.
“Do not unjustifiably take another
person’s life. If this happens, I’ll make sure we hand the person over to
the police for prosecution. I’ll not tolerate any act against civilian or an
act that can bring the Navy to disrepute,” Jubrin further warned.
While urging his men to be
apolitical in the forthcoming elections, he said they should be careful of
their utterances.
He was however quick to commend the
officers and ratings for a job well done in the fight against illegal
bunkering, fisheries and piracy in the nation's maritime domain.
He noted that their efforts had not
only earned them commendation by the present administration, but had also led
the country to being score 41 percent by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB)
in the area of checking crude oil theft.
Jubrin said that the IMB wanted to
know the secret behind the success by the Nigerian Navy, adding that the
success would not have come without collective efforts. He urged the men to put
more efforts in their duties in order to sustain the tempo by making
professional use of the additional four new Vessels that Mr. President
commissioned on Thursday. The vessels are; NNS Sagbama, NNS Prosperity, NNS
Okpabana and NNS Centenary.
Speaking on welfare, Jubrin urged
the personnel to concentrate more on their job, stating: “Once you do your job well,
you do not need any godfather to get to any level. We must live on merit. If
not for merit, I won't be here because I didn’t have any political clout
anywhere except the almighty God.”
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