 Consolidating on the partnership with other navies around the world is top on the agenda of the Nigerian Navy. Chief Staff Officer Weston Neville Command, Red Admiral Hamza Kauje gave this indication while hosting the Chief of the Atlantic French Naval Forces, Destiny-Momore reports. It's another milestone in the bilateral relationship between Nigeria and France. Nigerian Navy and Atlantic French Naval Forces are using their connecting point, the Atlantic Ocean, to strengthen their collaboration towards sanitising the hydrographic domain, especially the Gulf of Guinea. Their common objectives of ending piracy, trafficking, pollution and securing maritime space took prominence in their discussions. Chief Staff Officer Weston Neville Command, Red Admiral Hamza Kauje, who recalled a long-standing relationship between the two forces, requested that Nigeria be made a vessel spare parts hub in the region as many Nigerian Navy vessels are from France. These, he said, will contribute to the nation's economy, address the issue of delay in repairing vessels which will in turn foster the fight against maritime crimes. Chief Staff Officer Weston Neville Command, Red Admiral Hamza Kauje, Red Admiral Hamza Navies everywhere in the world have some know-how about what to tackle with the IUU fishing. And so the objective for us is to share this know-how and to contribute to foster the capability of the local navies, thanks to these cooperation and sharing of know-how, in order to improve the possibility to counter the IUU fishing. I think it's really the main course of action we have in the end today, a better cooperation. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is a threat to maritime security and needs a holistic approach to be checked. Nigerian Navy, under the leadership of Vice Admiral Avalizubairu Gambo, have just launched an operation called Operation Dakota La Barrao. Literary meaning, please. Literary meaning is stopping the thief. You are all aware that over sometimes now we have had a lot of crude oil theft. Nigerian Navy has deployed over 26 vessels. When I say vessels, I mean different categories of vessels to the south-south, Niger Delta now, and this operation, Dakota La Barrao, is ongoing. The collaboration is expected to secure the maritime space, not only in Nigeria, but the continent at large.