PROFILE Of New Chief Of Naval Staff, Ikechukwu Ogalla

PROFILE Of New Chief Of Naval Staff, Ikechukwu Ogalla

Following the removal of Service Chiefs by President Bola Tinubu on Monday, Rear Admiral Ikechukwu Ogalla has been appointed as the new Chief of Naval Staff.

Ogalla replaces Rear Admiral Awwal Gambo, who was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari in January 2021.

See Rear Admiral Ogalla’s profile below: 

Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla was born on December 20, 1968 in Enugu Ezike, Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State.

He obtained the West African School Certificate from the NMS Zaria in June, 1987 where he graduated as the ‘Best Boy’ in Sciences.

He is a member of the 39 RC NDA, graduated with a BSc in Mathematics and was awarded Sword of Honour as the best naval cadet in his course.

He was commissioned S Lt on September 16, 1992 and rose to the rank of R Adm wef on September 16, 21. He completed the STC NNS QUORRA, Basic Hydrography National Hydrographic School India in May 2000, Junior and Senior Staff Courses AFCSC Jaji in Nov 01 and Jul 06 respectively. He was a participant of NDC Course 22 and was awarded fdc in Aug 14.

As part of the Course, he took part in the MSc Strategic Studies programme, University of Ibadan from 2014 to 2015.

The senior officer served on board many ships including NNS AMBE, ARADU, LANA, EKUN, AGU, QUORRA, BEECROFT, DELTA and PATHFINDER.

While on board NNS EKUN, he took part in the ECOMOG Operations in Liberia in 1996. Also as the Base operations officer in NNS PATHFINDER, he was responsible for coordinating anti illegal bunkering operations as well the entire policing duties of the base.

During the period there was a remarkable reduction in illegal activities in the maritime area within the base area of operations.

The senior officer also served as Instructor, CI and Comdt NNHS, SO 1 Survey and DD Instruments NNHO, ADCP, DD Hydro and DPR NHQ, as well as DS/ DARAS NDC and D Audit NASS NHQ. He is currently the DLL NHQ.

During his cumulative 6-year tour of duty in NNHS, he taught geodesy, datum conversion, tidal predictions and analysis, satellite surveying, bathymetry, among others.

As Comdt, he linked the School with Teledyn Marines, a reputable OEM in the US, which enabled the NN to procure several survey equipment from the company, leading to improvements in practical training.

He was also instrumental to the review of the School’s curriculum to align with IHO requirements. During his tour of duty in the NNHO, the senior officer was instrumental to the localisation of tidal prediction and analysis.

He participated in the FAO sponsored Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem survey in 2004 and provided professional inputs during the survey and production of the NNHO charts.

During his tour of duty at the NDC, he contributed towards the improvement of the College research package and also led the 2018 participants research study tour to China and South Korea.

As DLL he was responsible for collating and analysing previous NN Operations and activities with the objective of drawing lessons necessary for doctrinal and operational improvements.

The Senior officer is decorated with FSS, MSS, DSS and GSS. He is a member of the Nigerian Hydrographic Society, Nigerian Institute of Management, the International Earth Rotation Services and also a fellow of the Occupational Safety and Health Association of the UK.

He is married to Mrs Ijeoma Ogalla and the marriage is blessed with two children.

His hobbies include jugging, reading, listening and researching about science and nature.