By Godfrey Bivbere

FORMER General Manager in charge of Public Affairs of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Chris Borha, has said that the establishment of a Maritime Coast Guard, MCG, is the only solution to the problem of piracy on the nation’s waters.

In an exclusive chat with Vanguard Maritime Report, Borha who is also Head Analyst of C.A. Borha Management and Economic Services, stressed that the personnel for the Maritime Coast Guard should be drawn from the Nigerian Navy, the Marine Command of the Nigerian Police and other government agencies with such expertise.

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He stated: “The solution now is to have a Coast Guard; they have killed the idea of the Nigerian Coast Guard based on vested interests, based on power tussles.

“I think the evidence is now complete that the solution to our problem is to have a dedicated government organ that is in charge of coast maritime security.

“It should be advocacy on the part of the Port Authority; I think we should advocate it to put an end to all these service contracts here and there.

“We do not know the extent or ramification of such contracts. The Nigerian Navy has competence, expertise in coastal management, coastal maritime management, so we take the expertise of the coastal maritime management of the Navy, we take from all the various institutions and we go right ahead and institute a Coastal Guard.

“There must be a Coast Guard Force, Nigerian Coast Guard Force, that will be government-owned, that will be legitimate or that can relate with both private and governmental organisations and can be working in the interest of the federal republic of Nigeria,” he noted.