Cast off from the mainland Bonny Town, Community Secondary School, Burukiri in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State is ensconced deep inside the tropical rain forest and can only be accessed by navigating a swinging spiral of creeks more than 30 nautical miles away from Bonny Main Town.

It shares same location with St. Bartholomew’s Primary School, which serves about five neighbouring communities within the area. 

Pupils, students and teachers always have to grapple daily with the challenge of traveling by a small wooden boat powered by a small outboard engine to and from the school. Sometimes, the boat is not available and only a negligible few those who can afford the exorbitant fare make it to school.

So, it was not a surprise then, when in line with its non-kinetic approach to delivery of its ongoing Operation Delta Sanity, the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base (NNFOB), Bonny on Wednesday, September 18, 2024 adopted Community Secondary School, Burukiri as part of its community engagement efforts.

The school has no perimeter fencing around it; lacks basic amenities like toilets, water, sickbay, classrooms, desks, staff room, teachers’ accommodation, offices for administrative staff, playground, laboratories, principals’ offices, hostels, and assembly hall, among several others.

Commanding Officer of the NNFOB, Bonny, Capt. Maksum Mohammed announced the decision when he led senior officers of the Base on a visit to the School and donated educational materials including school bags, writing materials, etc to the students, and also to pupils of St. Bartholomew’s Primary School, Burukiri.

The team was also at Lighthouse Fishing Settlement in Finima Community where the Commanding Officer, represented by the Executive Officer of the NNFOB, Bonny, Commander Gideon Daloeng, also donated life vests to fishermen in four fishing settlements: Lighthouse, Ajalamonigha, Ajaokolo 2 and River 7. 

He said the exercise, which, according to him, was on the directive of the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, is part of the Nigerian Navy’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) to communities in its aras of responsibility.  

He explained further that the success story of the ongoing Operating Delta Sanity is partially etched on the Navy’s continuous engagement with communities in its various areas of responsibility with a view to leveraging local support to identify and neutral security threats and ensure safety of lives and properties.

“We will jut adopt the school. As long as the Base is concerned – you know that soldier goes, soldier comes. Tomorrow, I may not be here – for the period that the CNS keeps me here, I’ll try to make sure that we improve what we’re seeing.

“All I have said is in line with what the CNS has told us to do. You know the Navy is not a humanitarian service. It is one of the fighting arms of the country and our primary role is to go after bad people; identify them and neutralize them.

“But we have discovered that in the process of doing that we see people around too that are not bad people and we think we can help them. So, based on that the CNS has directed that from time to time, we should assist the communities that we find around us. It’s either we do medical outreach or we do an outreach like this.

“This is resumption month; some people call it school fees month. Everybody’s efforts is geared towards gathering school fees to send your child to school and we know that everywhere is tough now and parents will be struggling with one or two things and based on this, on behalf of the CNS we have decided to see where we can touch.”

At Lighthouse Fishing Settlement, where the life vests donation took place, the Executive Officer, Cdr Gideon Daloeng who represented the Commanding Officer, said the donations were still in furtherance of the community engagement efforts of the Nigerian Navy in line with the Chief of Naval Staff’s strategic guidance on non-kinetic approach to deliver of the Operation Delta Sanity.

He praised the communities represented for their cooperation so far with the security agencies, especially, the Nigerian Navy, saying such synergy has helped in no small measure to assist the Navy deliver on its statutory mandate of securing the nation’s maritime domain.

He appealed to them to sustain such cooperation, urging them as seafarers to show understanding when they are engaged in their fishing activities at sea by giving way to other marine vessels to also navigate safely without any incidents that will affect either their boats or fishing gear. 

Responding, Principal of Community Secondary School, Burukiri, Caleb Richard expressed his appreciation on behalf of his colleagues, noting that the gesture by the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base was outstanding and deserving of accolades, assuring that the donated items would be properly utilized.

On her part, a student of the CSS Burukiri, Joy Adawari-Jumbo also expressed her gratitude to the NNFOB Commanding Officer as well as the Chief of the Naval Staff for what she described as “a kind gesture to the suffering students of the school”, appealing to the State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara to come to the aid of the school by providing necessary facilities to aid learning.

At Lighthouse, the Kiridabo of Lighthouse, Sodienye Alex-Brown thanked the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base for the donation to the fishing community there, saying it will enhance their safety while chasing their livelihoods on the sea, urging other agencies and organizations to emulate the Navy.

 Operation Delta Sanity is special purpose vehicle activated by the leadership of the Nigerian Navy under the incumbent Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla to reverse the downward spiral in Nigeria’s oil production by aggressively combating crude oil theft and illegal bunkering across the Niger Delta region.