2 October 2008
The captain of a visiting French Navy Ship, yesterday said the visit was not to protect French oil installations in Nigeria but to consolidate technical links.
Commodore Thierry Ruffier who arrived Lagos aboard a ship, BAP Jules Verne, said at a news conference in Lagos that protection of the oil installations were not part of the ship's respon-sibility. Ruffier is in Nigeria with 269 other crew members, among them 28 females.
"We are in Nigeria in furtherance of the technical links France has with countries of the Gulf of Guinea including Senegal , Congo, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana ," he said.
He said the visit was in response to an invitation by President Umaru Yar'Adua when he visited France last year, adding that the Nigerian Navy and its French counterpart have technical links.
He said that the crew was in the Gulf of Guinea to study the operations of the navies there for more cooperation and possible assistance.
"Members of the Nigerian Navy Engineering Corps will board the ship to share experiences on maintenance of ships for cross-pollination of ideas.
"We have also come to learn from the Nigerian Navy, being the largest in Africa; our visit is coinciding with the country's independ-ence anniversary celebration and is fulfilling," Ruffier said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that BAP Jules Verne which left Toulouse, France in July arrived Nigeria on Sept 27. The ship is expected to leave Nigeria on Oct. 3 en route Senegal.
The maintenance vessel was in Nigeria three years ago in furtherance of cooperation with the navies in the Gulf of Guinea. The U.S. and British navies had paid similar visits to the Nigerian Navy.
(NAN)
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