The Nigerian Institution of Marine Engineers and Naval Architects (NIMENA) has called on the federal government to consider the views of those advocating for a separate Maritime Coastguard so as to effectively tackle security issues on the nation’s waterways.
National Chairman of NIMENA, Engr. Henry Unuigbe who stated this in a speech at the 7th Annual Conference and Annual General Meeting of the Institute in Lagos on Thursday said that Nigeria must put in place robust maritime security architecture to tackle this.
He added that in doing this, all efforts should be geared toward shunning parochial interest and put the interest of Nigeria first even as said that the institute recognized the efforts of the Nigerian Navy in ensuring security in the maritime corridor.
Unuigbe however said that despite the efforts of the Nigerian Navy, the situation had remained unabated as security incidences were continuously being reported adding that security plays a critical role in the life of any nation as according to him, no meaningful development could be achieved without it.
“For long, maritime security around the Gulf of Guinea has attracted global attention with the situation in Nigeria more alarming. Piracy, kidnapping, hijacking and theft in our waters have become recurring issues with its negative impact. Incidences of these kinds have made Nigeria an unattractive destination for ships resulting in either rejection or diversion of Nigerian bound cargo to other destination or increase in cost of transportation of cargo. The economic value chain associated with one of these is to a very large extent lost”, he said.
He continued, “We should ask ourselves, why are we unable to surmount these challenges? Well, our guest speaker has talked about supporting our security agencies with funds, equipment, that is fine, may be they are challenged but I was saying that we should also consider the views of those who think we should have a separate maritime coastguard. There is nothing wrong, the Navy I understand is to protect the integrity of the territorial waters of Nigeria, yes, protection of our waters is not exclusively the duty of the Navy.
Just as the Army is protecting the land borders during external aggression, same goes for the territorial waters but the internal security in that regard, maybe we need to also look at other agencies to play a complementary role. Like on land, you have the Police and other security agencies, by the time they are overwhelmed, they call in the Nigerian Army. So, that kind of structure can still be obtained on the other side.
“To that extent, I could say yes, if it takes another Coastguard or agency to be able to stem the challenges we have with maritime security, so be it. I will support it because currently, you need to see the trend of reporting everything and government is not resting. We are hearing the news of attacks, kidnapping and the rest, it is not portending well for Nigeria. So, something needs to be done in order to stem the tide and bring safety on our waters”.
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