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Hundreds of activists, including youths and women from different parts of the country, stormed the National Assembly in Abuja on Thursday to express their strong opposition to the Coastal Guards Establishment Bill.

The bill, sponsored by Senator Wasiu Eshilokun (APC-Lagos), seeks to create a dedicated Nigerian Coast Guard responsible for securing Nigeria’s maritime zones.

However, stakeholders, including the Nigerian Navy, have opposed the bill.

Some civil society organizations, CSOs, had argued that the bill is an attempt to amend the Nigerian Constitution through the backdoor by creating another arm of the Armed Forces.

The CSOs warned that the bill would lead to proliferation of armed forces in Nigeria, a situation which they said could escalate insecurity in the country.

Further opposition hit the bill on Thursday as protesters, under the umbrella of Concerned Citizens of Nigeria, stormed the National Assembly to ask the lawmakers to reject the proposed legislation.

The protesters carried placards and banners with inscriptions such as ‘No to Coastal Guards Bill’, ‘Don’t Waste Our Resources’, among others.

They chanted slogans and sang songs, demanding that the National Assembly reject the bill.

Speaking on behalf of the protesters, Adamu Matazu said the Coastal Guards Bill is unnecessary and will only duplicate the functions of existing security agencies, such as the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Marine Police, and the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA).

Matazu argued that the bill is a waste of resources and will create confusion and conflict among the various security agencies. He also pointed out that Nigeria’s security agencies are already highly rated and acclaimed internationally, and therefore, there is no need to establish a new agency.

Urging the National Assembly to reject the bull, the protesters urged the lawmakers to instead focus on strengthening and bolstering the functions and capacity of existing institutions.

Addressing journalists, Matazu said, “Let us state unequivocally that members of the Nigerian Coastal Guards will not and cannot better protect Nigerian’s maritime interest and further regional coastal security, an additional agency will do nothing to improve these situations.

“Profoundly repetitive and reoccurring is the problem of duplications. For instance, what will the responsibility of the Merchant Shipping Act and NIMASA Act be if the Coastal Guards are saddled with the same functions of the training of seafarers?

“Another duplicative role is the involvement of the Coastal Guards in the performance of the responsibilities of monitoring and security surveillance of Nigeria’s waterways and also in hydrography since both the Nigeria Police and the Nigerian Navy are already involved in both duties. This has been further compounded by the presidential approval for the conversion of the Nigerian Navy Hydrographic Office into the National Hydrographic Agency, and the designation of the Nigerian Navy Hydrographer as the Hydrographer of the Federation.

“The bill has been further rendered null and irrelevant considering the functions and responsibilities of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), which constitutionally is to enforce laws and regulations within Nigeria’s inland waters.”

According to him, rather than solve any problem in the maritime sector, the bill, if passed into law, will only provoke fresh challenges.

“This is so because the establishment of coastal guards will complicate the coordination of the maritime sector, initiate unnecessary competition and undermine cohesion, leading to anarchy.

“These will be taken advantage of by criminal elements and conspirators enhancing negative ratings and culminating in the re-enlisting of the country into the Maritime Piracy Index, which it exited in 2022.”

He insisted that establishing the Nigerian Coastal Guards will lead to jurisdictional conflict and operational inefficiencies, with consequential negative exploitation of our economy.

“Nigeria does not need a Coastal Guard. We strongly believe that this broken record will henceforth never be played again. It is in our collective interest to kill this Bill. It is in the interest of democracy’s future and even the future of our children to kill this Bill once and for all.

“This Bill does not address any of the fundamental problems of Nigeria, rather it is on the voyage of adventurism. This bill is of no business in the first instance and needs to die now without more waste of time and public funds,” Matazu added.