By Godfrey Bivbere

MARITIME Consultant and former general manager of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Christopher Borha, has said only the establishment of a Coast Guard is the permanent solution to the problem of piracy on the nation’s waters. Borha said that several attempts made in the past to curb the problem of piracy and armed robbery on the nations had failed because the Federal Government is taking the wrong approach.

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 security responsibilities.

He said the recent comments by the Minister of Transportation; Rotimi Amaechi about the Secure Anchorage Area, SAA contract with OMS goes to buttress his claim for the creation of the coastal guard. Recall that the minister had described the contract as a fraud, calling for its cancellation.

READ ALSO:Soyombo to meet UNILAG workers, hold solidarity rally

Borha noted: “The minister said that the OMS contract is a fraud, he said who did they pay money to, who gave Navy permission to go and sign a deal.? Then he now said that they have signed their own contract for $196 million which means they too are bringing somebody to do coastal defence.

“Do you know what is now going to happen? Come 2023, do you know what the next administration will do? They will bring their own and the confusion will continue unless we have a constant, permanent coastal guard made up of expert from the navy, experts from the police, experts from all agencies that are security-related and they will now be permanent. That is the only time that we will know who is funding them, we will know where the money budgeted for that purpose is going to, we will know who they are and where they are and what they do.

“We will have a direct reporting line and then this issue will be resolved; otherwise, it cycle will continue. You remember where we started, we started with PICOMS, they did not allow them; then we went to Tompolo, they scattered it. Navy now went to bring OMS, they scattered it. Amaechi is bringing the Israelis and you know what is going to happen after that. That is another accruement that can be followed but let us assume for accruement sake that they thought it through and they are bringing them.

“All I am trying to say is that there will be no sanity in our coastal defence, in our coastal management, there will be no safety of our channels, there will be no ready availability of rapid response that can prevent, that can attack, that can subdue all sorts of piracy, all sorts of local militants and what have you until we have a standard, permanent coastal security. The permanent one we have now is the marine police but they are not empowered, they do not even reckon with them. I do not know what the problem with them is.”

“I know that the navy has a very advance coastal defense system. However, that is not their primary responsibility. Their primary responsibility is in the in blue water where they can help to protect the territorial integrity of the nation,” he noted.