By Aiyeku Timothy
The Nigerian Navy has declared missing, about 43 ratings who are alleged to have deserted in Europe.
The branch of the Nigerian Armed Forces has been beset by a spate of defections of its Naval ratings aboard various vessels and missions in European waters complicating an already dire situation for the armed maritime service.
The sour development has prompted a stern reaction from the Naval High Command to try to stem the scandalous disciplinary affair verging on disloyalty and military criminality.
A circular containing the names and photographs of the deserters was displayed at the Navy Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday, requesting anyone with useful information that could lead to their arrest.
The circular provided contact telephone numbers and mandated all naval personnel with information on the whereabouts of the missing officials to arrest them “or be dealt with as an accomplice.”
The circular read, “Above are the Nigerian Navy personnel who have deserted from Service recently.
“Accordingly, you are pleased requested to assist in providing useful information that will lead to their arrest or you may apprehend any one of them when seen and handover to the nearest Nigerian Navy base or security station”.
The deserted Officers include, L.O Chiegboka (SVC NN/3764. Ship: NOP Lake Chad), O.S. Itodo (SVC 5872F. Ship: NNH Warri), Anthony E.S. (SVC 18870. Ship: NNS Delta), Yusuf A. (SVC X15018. Ship: NNS Partfinder) Brown I.E (SVC X15545. Ship: NNH Warri) and Adiele S.C (SVC X15782. Ship: NNS SOROH)
Others are, Armstrong K, (SVC 7553. Ship: NNS PATHFINDER), Hassan A. (SVC X7542. Ship NNS PATHFINDER), and Osazuwa G (SVC X15831. Ship: NHQ), among others.
While no reason has been mentioned for the disappearance of the officers, it was gathered that most of the ratings, who were serving on naval vessels on foreign missions, absconded when their ships berthed in Europe.
Naval sources said the increasing number of desertion in the Service is becoming worrisome as it threatens military cooperation with the security outfit gradually running out of personnel.
In a way of curbing this, the European Union is aiming to increase and formalise operational cooperation amongst law enforcement authorities. Significant effort is going into organising and carrying out joint police operations to target irregular migrants.
It would be recalled that in late October and early November 2012, 25 EU Member States along with Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and EU border agency Frontex, participated in a “massive” joint police operation codenamed Aphrodite aimed at: “Combating illegal immigration, with the focus being on illegal border-crossing, the secondary movements of migrants who enter EU Member States illegally, the routes used and other information regarding smuggling of migrants”
However, European countries are already coming together to establish a policy for joint military exercises and training to curb the rate of absconding service men.
