The Nigerian Army has started local construction of gunboats for use by its amphibious unit, thereby saving the country money.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Onyeabor Azubuike Ihejirika said hitherto, N300million was used to service 10 boats for the unit, an amount which he said was high.

He said this N300million was being spent on the boats every six months, but rather than deploy such money to servicing of gunboats, the army has decided to deploy the fund to construction of new boats at N55million each.

He said: “We have decided to embark upon the local construction of these boats, because when I assumed office, we discover that N300million was spent to service 10 boats and the boats became unserviceable six months after and we made enquiry and we got a local builder who built for N55million each which means with N300million we will get five brand new and the boat we built are Amoured proof.

“This type of venture implies that if we have one billion we can build 15 boats and in the process of building we deploy our men from the signals and engineering unit to be able to determine the type of communication equipment needed.”

General Ihejirika spoke during the 2011 edition of the Combat Support Arms Training week in Lagos, revealing that the force has rehabilitated light armoured fighting vehicles essential for internal security operations, adding that they would be deployed to crisis areas soon.

He directed commanders of units and formation of the Nigerian Army in Lagos to immediately organize a “scale A” parade for all soldiers and officers in the state, to ensure discipline.
Ihejirika said: “The idea is that every single soldier or occupant of Army quarters in Lagos must be accounted for by his commander. This exercise is related to security and have far-reaching implication for discipline. I am happy with the recent measure undertaken by units in Lagos to enhance discipline in Lagos.


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