News
Takeover Navy’s Largest Ship, Senate Tells Presidency
The Senate has called on the Presidency to, as a matter of urgency, takeover and resuscitate the largest ship in the fleet of the Nigerian Navy, NNS ARADU.
This was just as it called for a roundtable of stakeholders such as the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety (NIMASA), Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Nigerian Customs and Excise, and Nigerian Immigration Services to fashion out a funding regime to facilitate the refitting and refurbishing of the Navy flagship in servicing Nigeria’s maritime domain.
These formed resolutions reached sequel to a motion considered during plenary on Wednesday.
The motion was sponsored by Senator George Thompson Sekibo (Rivers East), and co-sponsored by 14 other lawmakers.
Sekibo, in his presentation, said that the Nigerian Navy flagship, NNS ARADU, is one of the first of the MEKO 360 general purpose frigates built by one of the biggest shipbuilders in Germany and commissioned on February 22, 1982.
According to him, NNS ARADU is the largest ship in the Nigerian Navy fleet with a length of 125.6-metres (412ft l inch) and as a general-purpose frigate.
He added that the capabilities of the Frigate ensured the Nigerian Navy continued to reach out to blue waters with the appropriate ships in terms of firepower, extended operational range and enhanced surveillance capability.
The lawmaker noted that since NNS ARADU entered Nigerian Navy service, she has taken part in major naval exercises, fleet reviews and diplomatic cruises.
“She played a prominent part in ‘Operation Seadog’ in 1985 and Operation Odion in 1987.
“She has also undertaken extensive diplomatic visits to countries like Gabon, Congo, Zaire, Equatorial Guinea and many European countries;
“Aware that she participated in joint exercises with visiting ships of the German, Indian, French and the Brazilian navies”, Sekibo said.
He recalled that in 1987, barely five years after her commissioning, NNS ARADU ran aground twice and was involved in a major collision and underwent a significant local refit in 1991 at the Nigerian Navy Dockyard, Wilmot Point, Lagos.
Sekibo recalled that in 1997, she sailed to Monrovia, Liberia where she participated in ECOMOG operation for over six months, and steamed back to Lagos with her engines despite losing one generator.
He stated further that NNS ARADU participated in the 200th anniversary celebrations of the Battle of Trafalgar in the UK in 2005, and embarked on the hazardous trans-Atlantic voyage in 2007 to participate in Brazil Bicentenary celebration.
The lawmaker lamented that in 1994, NNS ARADU experienced degradation of machinery and equipment post refit trials and was assessed as Beyond Economical Repair in 1995.
According to him, the flagship while berthed in Naval Dockyard, experienced rough weather and severe turbulence between May 31 to June 2, 2014, which caused the already weakened ship serious damage that resulted in flooding and near sinking.
He noted that the other seven ships of same category in the world built about the same time are still energetically sea worthy and in operation due to proper maintenance.
“The misfortune of ARADU was the transfer of the ship from the Presidency to the Nigerian Navy for maintenance which could not afford to keep it afloat properly due to the envelope budget system”, Sekibo said.
He observed that NNS ARADU is the equivalent of Air Force One in the Presidential air fleets which has since been maintained and kept by the Presidency.
The lawmaker expressed concern that Nigeria has no flagship on her seas today and had lost her pride of her dreaded sea power among the African nations.
He noted that NNS ARADU can be refitted either locally or internationally or both to give her 25 years extended life span or more.
He disclosed that refitting NNS ARADU may require over $200million (N82billion) at current exchange rate, while replacing same will require more than $700million (2-287, 000, 000, 000.00) only.
He expressed optimism on Nigeria’s ability to refit the ailing ship to take her place in the comity of naval formations in Africa and the world.
By: Nneka Amaechi-Nnadi, Abuja
Nigerians may experience an increase in the prices of premium energy products diesel and petrol as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery temporarily halts the sale of petroleum products in Naira.
“This decision is necessary to avoid a mismatch between our sales proceeds and our crude oil purchase obligations, which are currently denominated in US dollars,” the company said in a statement yesterday.
The $20billion refinery based in Lagos said the sales of its products in Naira have exceeded the value of Naira-denominated crude it has received from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
“As a result, we must temporarily adjust our sales currency to align with our crude procurement currency,” the company explained.
The refinery said it remained committed to serving the Nigerian market and would resume the sale of its product to the local market in Naira as soon as it received crude cargoes from the NNPCL in Naira.
“As soon as we receive an allocation of Naira-denominated crude cargoes from NNPC, we will promptly resume petroleum product sales in Naira,” it said.
The announcement by the refinery comes amid its price war with the NNPCL.
As part of moves to reduce the strain on the US dollars, and guarantee price stability of petroleum products, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in July 2024, directed the NNPCL to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in naira and not in United States’ greenback.
In the beginning of March 2025, the NNPCL said its Naira-denominated crude sales agreement with the Dangote Refinery was structured for six months with March 2025 as the expiration date.
The state company, however, said that talks were on to replace the contract, and that over 48 million barrels of crude oil have been made available to Dangote Refinery since October 2024 under the Naira-denominated arrangement.
The NNPCL also said it had made over 84 million barrels of crude oil available to the private refinery since it commenced operations in 2023.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, faces energy challenges, with all its state-owned refineries non-operational for decades until 2024. The country was heavily reliant on imported refined petroleum products, with the state-run NNPCL being the major importer of the essential commodities.
Fuel queues are commonplace in the country. Prices of petrol more than quadrupled since the removal of subsidy in May 2023 by President Bola Tinubu, from around ¦ 200/litre to about ¦ 1,000/litre, compounding the woes of the citizens who power their vehicles, and generating sets with petrol, no thanks to decades-long epileptic electricity supply.
Last December, the billionaire industrialist commenced operations at the facility situated in Lagos with 350,000 barrels a day. The refinery, which was initially bogged by regulatory battles, hopes to achieve its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year. The refinery has begun the supply of diesel and aviation fuel to marketers in the country and now petrol.
Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has overtaken Egypt’s Omar Assar to become Africa’s highest-ranked player in the world, now sitting at 18th in the week 12 ranking released on Tuesday.
Aruna moved up from 19th place in week 11 to 18th in the latest ranking, while Assar dropped from 17th to 19th.
Denmark’s Jonathan Groth took over Assar’s 17th place, moving up from 18th.
Despite finishing as runner-up at the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup, Aruna’s impressive performances at the WTT tournaments this year have boosted his ranking.
Aruna remains the only African male player to have reached the semi-finals of the WTT Contender Doha, repeating his 2023 feat earlier this year in January.
This achievement has propelled him ahead of Assar, who beat him to become the champion of the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup.
Aruna’s next tournament is the WTT Contender Chennai which serves off in India from March 23 to 20.
In the women’s singles, Egypt’s Hana Goda maintained her top spot in Africa, moving up one place to 26th in the week 12 ITTF ranking. Her compatriot, Dina Meshref, remained static at 33rd, holding her position as the second-best-ranked female player in Africa.
China’s Wang Chuqin retained his position as the second-best player globally, behind his compatriot Lin Shidong, who continues to hold the top spot. Japanese superstar Tomokazu Harimoto dethroned China’s Liang Jingkun as the third-best player in the world after his semifinal finish in Chongqing.
In the women’s ranking, the top five remained unchanged, with China’s Sun Yingsha holding onto her top spot after retaining her WTT Champions Chongqing title.
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