Navy Leveraging Marketing Strategies To Enhance Services

The Admiralty Conference Centre is one of the biggest halls at the Naval Dockyard Limited, Victoria Island, Lagos. The Navy officials, resource persons, participants, partners and friends of the Navy, were all seated at a recent workshop, themed: ‘Navigating Commercial Waters: Marketing Strategies for the Nigerian Navy’.

It was organised by the Naval Engineering Services Limited (NESL), in collaboration with Prime Atlantic Global Engineering Services Limited.

CNS’s charge

The Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, declared both the official opening and closing ceremony of the workshop. Ogalla considered the one-day workshop as very significant given its focus, which included strategic market penetration, expansion, building strategic alliances, partnerships, and strategic integration.

He was represented by the Chief of Policy and Plans, Naval Headquarters, Abuja, Rear Admiral Joseph Akpan. In his opening remarks, the CNS noted: “As tradition, the Navy has been seen as the pillar of national security and ensuring the safety and sovereignty of our waters.

“Apart from that, people don’t really know that in the scheme of things now, especially in our country, considering the fact that the Maritime sector is the mainstay of our economy, the Navy has actually grown to play more vital roles in steadying the economy.

“As a country, many people don’t know that we have a coastline that stretches over 850 kilometres. This is what many countries dream to have, but they don’t.” Speaking further he said: “So, how does that translate to our national economic progress? That is exactly what we are trying to look at in the workshop.

“The coastline environment is a gateway and that is why you see countries like Niger, even though they are landlocked, they still form part of the Yaoundé Zones, Zone E.” According to him, this stems from the fact that they recognise through collaboration:

“Our seaport can be home, they can have all sorts of tax holidays or something to enhance their economy. “What about us that are having that stretch of over 850kms coastline, what have we done about it? “So, the Nigerian Navy is not only a gathering of warships but an enabler for commerce and industry.

“Today’s workshop focuses on two critical entities within the Nigerian Navy’s commercial system, which are: Navy Holdings Limited (NHL) and Naval Engineering Services Limited (NESL). Some of these organisations play pivotal roles in translating Nigeria’s objective into national commercial virtues.

“As we plan for the navy, it starts with managing and overseeing a diverse forum of commercial interests. “The funding can never be enough, so, it requires us to dig deep into our market dynamics, strategic foresight and the ability to form and manage strategic partnership both locally and internationally.”

He also noted: “NESL is a key player in providing engineering and logistics support to the navy and the maritime industry. “So, NESL mission, therefore, is to deliver innovative and globally relevant engineering solutions that enhance the nation’s maritime capabilities.

“In so doing, NESL not only supports the Navy’s operational objectives, the welfare, but see to the technical industrial growth of the Nigerian maritime sector.

“It is crucial to highlight the importance of strategic marketing analysis and segmentation. The maritime sector is broad and complex and encompassing areas as well as shipping, logistics, oil and gas, fisheries and so on.

“To effectively navigate this landscape, NHL and NESL must employ rigorous market analysis frameworks that consider global and local trends, competitive dynamics and regulatory environment.” Continuing, he said: “The objective of this workshop is to see how to grow that business concern naturally in the Navy.”

Indigenous capacity

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the NESL, Rear Admiral Baratuaipri Iyalla on his part, said “The Navy has an organisation known as Naval Holdings Limited. This company was formed out of the realisation of not just the Navy but that the nation needed to develop indigenous capacity.

“So the Navy has to form a business that will engage those other businesses, so that we will get the necessary spares and logistics support that it requires.

That was the seed that gave birth to the development of the Naval Holdings Limited. “At the onset, it was mainly focused on the engineering and facilities and we have expanded that to include; NESL as one of the 12 companies under the Navy Holdings Limited.

“Other companies include; Naval Hotel Suites limited, Admiralty Maritime Services Limited, Nigerian Navy Microfinance Bank, NESL, Naval Dockyard Limited, Navy Shipyard Limited, Admiralty Maritime Services Limited, Nigerian Navy Cooperative Society, Printing Press, Building Construction Company, Nigerian Navy Travels and Tours.

“We see ourselves in the future as the driver of the provision of engineering services within the Maritime space. We are a one-stop shop when it comes to engineering services. “Among our services, we provide logistics services, provisions of spare equipment; we are also into some manufacturing.

We manufacture paint under the ‘Hub’ brand. We manufacture batteries, we also provide steel materials under our NESL metal brand, and we supply materials for buildings. “We do engineering related training including maintenance of vessels, health safety and environment and general engineering training.

“We do software development and we are in the process of developing software, inventory management software for the Navy, so we provide software for the engineering challenges.” He further noted: “The companies that came here as resource persons are actually our partners; Prime Atlantic Global Engineering Services Limited.

We are partnering with them to carry out many of the activities. “We have learnt from the workshop that there are very huge opportunities out there for the Navy and these are part of the reasons we assemble to tell our clientele and some of the audience and our would-be customers what we are able to provide.

Hoping to get patronage for our services, we assured them that we are a reliable brand and that we will provide the services better than most in the Marine industry. ‘‘NESL is aimed at retaining the core of the innovative need of Naval Engineering to set standards between Nigeria and Africa’s Maritime industry.

‘‘It is essential to arm ourselves with the right strategies and frameworks to ensure success. “The maritime industry which is a vast and complex landscape demands that the economy understand both global and local market trends. “You will agree with me today that the global market has a direct impact on our economy here in Nigeria.

A comprehensive market analysis should involve understanding of some of these global trends. We must stay abreast of Maritime trends such as the shift towards shipping, digital transportation, logistics and increasing focus on maritime insecurity “The maritime domain offers significant opportunities in sectors such as oil and gas, and Maritime Tourism among others.

“The oil and gas sector remains a critical area for Nigeria and the Navy’s involvement in securing offshore platforms and maritime boats can be expanded into commercial engagement. “Similarly, the engineering sector such as the Blue Economy initiatives and maritime technology offer new avenues for exploration.

Importantly, our targeting strategies masterminds the Navy’s core strength, whether it’s operational extradite or logistical capabilities or ability to provide security in high risk areas.” “If we are to carry out the business within the naval facilities, it will cut off a lot of insecurity forces.

By focusing on areas where we can offer unique value we can ensure that our commercial engagements are both positive and sustainable. “For the Nigerian Navy, forming alliances with private enterprises, government agencies and international partners can unlock new opportunities and enhance our capabilities.”

Achievements

He also highlighted some of the ground breaking achievements by the body over the years, stating: “The Dockyard has constructed three warships, with the construction of other two warships ongoing. I want to tell you that this construction was without necessarily bringing in any technical expertise from outside.

It was conceived, designed, constructed and is being purely upgraded by Nigerians. ‘‘We went further to start marketing with some oil and gas companies based on what we have learnt from these associations. There are very specific ethical standards that we must have; it must meet very stringent internationally recognised standards.’’

Self-sustaining

The Executive Director, Prime Atlantic Global Engineering Services, Mr. Adeola Adeyanju, spoke in details of the operations of the outfits and relationship with others, saying: “Our partners with the Naval Engineering Services Limited, we believe that this kind of cooperation is very important for the Nigerian Navy and all of our many subsidiaries to grow and contribute to the economic development, apart from security which is a main activity. ‘‘We think that it is very important so that the Navy can become selfsustaining and even contribute to the economy.”