shippingposition
  • Home
  • News
  • Editorial
    • Vox Pop
  • Maritime safety
  • Oil and Gas
  • Personality
  • Health
No Result
View All Result
shippingposition

Home » Just Before The Maritime Security Agency Bill Sails Through

Just Before The Maritime Security Agency Bill Sails Through

by Joshua
November 23, 2009
in Uncategorized

Recently, President Umar Yar’ Adua sent an executive bill to the  National Assembly for the creation of a maritime security agency  by the federal government as a follow-up to the recent amnesty deal with the militants in the Niger Delta region.
If the Maritime Security Agency bill sails through, it then means that Nigeria will have another agency to take charge for post- amnesty peace efforts in the Niger Delta and indeed for the maritime sector. 
The proposed agency is expected to have wide ranging powers, including performing coastguard functions, inspection of ships, arrests of suspects and carry firearms within the Nigerian coastal territory. These responsibilities are in addition to providing security information on oil and gas pipelines, rigs, platforms and all other established installations.
The initiative of the president is commendable in that he is genuinely seeking peace; at least, this has been demonstrated by his commitment to the recent amnesty which the federal government granted thousands of militants and which appears to have been largely successful.
The Niger Delta, apart from being a distinct component of Nigeria, is also the hub of the nation’s oil and gas sector; it is also strong component of the nation’s maritime sector hosting at least four ports. It is this unique natural endowment that makes the relationship between the region and the maritime sector a symbiotic one, in which case, the region’s aquatic endowment makes it a maritime region and the sector also provides means of livelihood for thousands of Niger ‘Deltans’. 
While the militancy in the region may be blamed for the unrests in the oil and gas sector, its effect is not limited to the sector alone as the international shipping community has severally complained about rising attacks on ships and smaller water crafts including fishing trawlers within the Nigerian coast. In the attacks, captains and crew of vessels calling in Nigerian ports have been killed and maimed with valuables lost to daredevil sea robbers.        
Apparently, in response to repeated outcry by stakeholders, the Nigeria’s chief of defence staff, Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike sometime ago inaugurated an 11-member inter agency task force to tackle the unrests and militancy as well as sea robbery on Nigerian waters.
Members of the committee were drawn from the armed forces, Customs, Police, Nigerian Ports Authourity, NIMASA and ministries of transport, interiors as well as the State Security Service (SSS).
Just like we predicted at that time, that security committee was not able to stop these militants who masquerade as sea robbers and whose sophisticated fire power is not in doubt. Arguably, the committee only succeeded in harassing hapless owners of private jetties and tank farms in Lagos.
But on going moves by the presidency to establish a new maritime security agency may create more frictions. First, the proposed agency will be in conflict with the provisions of the law which established the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). Second, if the proposed agency is allowed to see the light of the day, it will be a duplication of the Coast Guard Bill which is currently before the National Assembly. Thirdly, some sections of the armed forces are reportedly not too happy that the proposed agency will strip them of certain core responsibilities. 

While it is correct that the Coast Guard Bill is still in the works,  the NIMASA Act of 2007 is however already an Act of the  National Assembly. By virtue of the Act, NIMASA is saddled with the responsibility of ensuring maritime safety and security as well as protecting the marine environment.
It is not unlikely that successive headships of NIMASA would be blamed for the current development. The argument is: if the agency had risen up to the challenge of its responsibilities as the nation’s maritime safety administration agency, perhaps there would not have been any need for  a second agency that will eventually strip NIMASA of almost 80 per cent of its statutory responsibilities.
Its alliance with the military which informed the intervention by the   chief of defence staff and the eventual creation of the task force is a failure.   
While it is correct that NIMASA has largely failed in the pursuit of this mandate, but it is the attempt to address this failure that led to the clamour for a Coast Guard which is fashioned after a similar body in other maritime domains. The enthusiasm that has so far greeted the Coast Guard Bill among stakeholders in the maritime sector is a pointer to its relevance.  
While the maritime security agency which the President is canvassing is laudable, it is unlikely that it will solve any problem, rather it is likely to create disaffection within maritime as well as the oil and gas sectors of the economy.
We feel strongly that what should be done is for the President to work through relevant committees of the two chambers of the National Assembly to expedite action on the Coast Guard bill. The (expectedly military) National Coast Guard will perform the duty that the President wishes that a separate maritime security agency should perform. 
Depending on how much of public inputs the legislators still require before the Coast Guard Bill can scale through, the President can still make executive inputs into the bill rather than duplicate efforts by attempting to establish another agency.
The nation’s waterways are not safe, so are the channels and the various terminals (including oil and gas installations). What we conceive as the middle of the road approach is for the promoters of the Coast Guard bill and that of the Maritime Security Agency bill to put heads together and realign the modus operandi of the two proposed agencies.
We think that the law makers have beaten the Presidency to it, we also think that the nation deserves a new strategy in her resolved to secure her maritime oil and gas installations.

 


Related Posts

Customs Seize Contraband, Destroy Raw Donkey Skin In Adamawa

FG To Shutdown Adeniji/Adekunle Third Mainland Bridge Ramps For Repairs On Monday

November 18, 2023
FG Rakes in N4.3trn From Oil In 2021, N2.3trn In 2023 — Report

FG Rakes in N4.3trn From Oil In 2021, N2.3trn In 2023 — Report

September 25, 2023
Oil Theft: Security Agencies Accuse Mdas, Oil Coys, Communities, Others Of Collusion

ANLCA Elects Emenike Nwokeoji As National President, Promises Unity and Progress

September 8, 2023
International Shipping Companies Threaten To Stop Trading In Nigeria Over Backlog Of Tax Claims

FG Targets N553bn From Unremitted Shipping Taxes

July 6, 2023

Discussion about this post

Latest News

MWUN Forges Collaboration with NAMTOP,  NARTO Signs MOU To Address Truckers’ Challenges 

FG To Invest $1.1Billion To Rehabilitate Nigerian Seaports

November 28, 2023

Nigeria Expresses Readiness To Contest IMO Election in 2025

Tantita Security To Address Oil Theft In GoG At MARAN Annual Lecture

NEPZA Boss Says Nation’s Free Trade Zones Not `Free’

MWUN Forges Collaboration with NAMTOP,  NARTO Signs MOU To Address Truckers’ Challenges 

Still On The Appalling State Of Infrastructures In Nigerian Ports

Vessels Expected At Lagos Ports As At 27th November, 2023

Chief Jolapamo Appointed As Patron of Shipping Institute, Vows Support and Commitment to Industry Development

Ship Owners Sceptical, Call For Ministerial Blueprint For National Fleet Revitalization 

Truckers Expose Underhand Motivations Behind Illicit Container Stripping At Tin Can Port

LASTCOC Inaugurates New Committee, Vows To End Truckers’ Plight  

Why We Are In Court With NISA—Akinpelumi

kindly like our Facebook page

Health

Frequently Asked Questions About Suicide
Health

Frequently Asked Questions About Suicide

November 7, 2023

Suicide is a major public health concern. When a person dies by suicide, the effects are felt by family, friends,...

Some Facts You Need to Know About Stroke

November 2, 2023
Cervical Cancer:  HPV Vaccine Is Safe, Serves As Lifelong Prevention — Minister

Cervical Cancer:  HPV Vaccine Is Safe, Serves As Lifelong Prevention — Minister

November 2, 2023
Blood Pressure, Blood Sugar Tests Critical To Eye Health Care – Optometrist

Blood Pressure, Blood Sugar Tests Critical To Eye Health Care – Optometrist

October 25, 2023
Sex-Enhancing Drugs May Trigger Heart Diseases – Gynaecologist

Sex-Enhancing Drugs May Trigger Heart Diseases – Gynaecologist

October 23, 2023
Depression Alerts To Watch Out For By Everyone

Depression Alerts To Watch Out For By Everyone

October 23, 2023
The ‘Ordeal’ Called Fibroid

The ‘Ordeal’ Called Fibroid

October 17, 2023
ABC Of Mental Health?

ABC Of Mental Health?

October 17, 2023
World Mental Health Day 2023: De-Criminalise Mental Health, Says Minister

World Mental Health Day 2023: De-Criminalise Mental Health, Says Minister

October 17, 2023
The Usefulness In Watermelon Seeds You May Not Know

The Usefulness In Watermelon Seeds You May Not Know

October 9, 2023

© 2021 Shippingposition

Navigate Site

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
  • Terms

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Coast To Coast
  • Oil and Gas
  • Maritime Education
  • The Terminals
  • Maritime safety

© 2021 Shippingposition