UK’s royal fleet to undertake defence engagement in West Africa

A UK Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) vessel, RFA Lyme Bay, has arrived in Premiere Port (Apapa Quays) Lagos, Nigeria, as part of a defence engagement programme across West African partner nations.

The visit is part of the maritime co-operation agreed under the UK-Nigeria Security and Defence Partnership in February 2024.

Whilst in Nigeria, Lyme Bay, will conduct a variety of defence engagement activities including ship tours and the hosting of national dignitaries. Operationally, the ship will facilitate maritime capability training utilising embarked UK Royal Marines boarding and search teams to conduct drills and interoperability training with their Nigerian Navy counterparts.

On completion of the visit, the vessel will participate in Exercise Grand African Nemo, a multinational maritime security exercise, involving Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian and Nigerian Naval forces off the coast of Nigeria.

Speaking on the Ship’s arrival, the UK Deputy Defence Adviser to Nigeria, Commander Jonathan Howe said that the UK is committed to improving regional maritime security, as well as increasing Nigeria’s ability to constrain security threats ranging from piracy, violent extremist organisations.

“This deployment demonstrates our pledge to work with the Nigeria Government to tackle shared international security challenges and help improve maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea,”  he said.

Commanding Officer, Lyme Bay, Commander, Capt James Wingrove, said: “It is a great privilege to bring RFA Lyme Bay alongside in Nigeria. The opportunity for my ships’ company and embarked forces to visit the region presents an exciting prospect whilst the ability to train alongside our Nigerian counterparts to hone skills, improve capability and demonstrate our interoperability is extremely valuable”.