Nigerian Navy on Tuesday reaffirmed its commitment to continue to protect the nation’s maritime domain against piracy and any other criminal activities.

Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, said this while briefing newsmen at the end of his Annual Sea Inspection Exercise tagged “Eagle Eye”, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, saying the exercise was designed to assess the combat readiness of the Navy fleet in conducting maritime operations, adding that it included sister agencies and other stakeholders in the maritime domain.

Ibas said the efforts were geared towards inter-agency cooperation for the enhancement of maritime security and surveillance in the country as well as in the Gulf of Guinea.

He, however, said the Navy to determined to ensure all issues related to illegal activities in the nation’s waterways were tackled headlong.

This, Ibas said, had necessitated the introduction of many operational options such as ‘Tsare Teku’, among others, saying the introduction of such operations had largely reduced criminal activities in the maritime domain.

He also urged the Army and Air Force to consolidate on their ability to operate effectively as one unified force for the sake of national resources.

The CNS expressed confidence that the subsequent exercise would be made better and that the Nigerian Navy would be able to consolidate on its training and exercises to achieve the desired objectives.

He said the nation’s maritime domain was very vast, hence the need to keep constant surveillance to ensure that it is crime free.

Ibas said there were still series of challenges in the quest to protect the maritime domain, but pledged that they would not deter the service from carrying out its responsibilities.