Strategic Planning for Operational Efficiency in the Nigerian Navy: Challenges for the 21st Century

Abstract

The Nigerian Navy (NN) was conceived as a ceremonial Navy in 1956 with minimal security and policing tasks. It later developed to become a promising force, with modest strike capabilities in the 80s.The Navy is complex, capital intensive, with high technological input. Its operations demand specialized training, efficient manning, and solid support and maintenance facilities. It requires good forethought and painstaking long-term plan for it to perform efficiently and maintain sustainable development and growth to be able to operate effectively in the 21st century. This study revealed that the NN over the years adopted reactive rather than strategic approach to planning. This approach, which is susceptible to regular changes, lacked focus and has proved ineffective for the growth of the NN. Unfortunately, this lack of focus has also led to the breakdown of virtually all instruments that constitute a virile Navy. The NN is today at a crossroad, because of its operational deficiencies and lack of funds to acquire new platforms. It faces numerous challenges, emanating from international, domestic, social, political and economic dynamics that need to be urgently addressed. The Nigerian Navy has as its primary responsibility the preservation of Nigeria's territorial integrity and interests. It has also become a major contributor to national development through the protection of the maritime and coastal resources and must therefore reposition itself to perform its roles more effectively. It is against this backdrop, therefore, that this study critically examined the factors responsible for the decline in the operational efficiency of the NN over the years. The study thereafter proposes that the NN planners and policy makers should adopt Strategic Planning framework to ensure that the NN becomes effective and is steady on a course that will propel it toward a virile, sustainable development and growth in the 21st century.