The Provisionary Committee of the proposed Nigerian Coast Guard (PC-NCG) has maintained that Nigeria’s struggle to establish a Coast Guard is not a failure of today’s leaders, but a 170-year structural problem that began in 1748 with the British Marine Department, which combined civilian safety and military defence under one roof.
In a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja, the Director of Communications & Public Affairs, Dr. Kiyaramo Piriye, quoted Capt. Noah Ichaba, Chief Executive and Accounting Officer of PC-NCG, as saying the 1914 amalgamation and creation of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA in 1955 continued the same pattern. Mariners from the old Marine Department were seconded to NPA and kept performing mixed duties of port operations, coastal safety, and security.
“When the Nigerian Naval Force was established on March 26, 1956 through Sessional Paper No. 6, those same ex-Mariner personnel were transferred to pioneer the new Navy,” Capt. Ichaba recalled. “The critical distinction was never made. The Navy was tasked with both military defence and civilian maritime law enforcement, safety, and security, while no independent Coast Guard was created.”
He added that this colonial-era design created overlapping mandates and institutional rivalry that persist today. “Every attempt to legislate a Coast Guard has run into the same wall: a system built to fuse roles instead of separate them.
“Present-day lawmakers, ministers, and agencies inherited this confusion. They did not create it,” he stated.
The statement noted that after the dissolution of the Marine Department in 1887, Nigeria got the NPA, Inland Waterways Authority, and Nigerian Naval Force, but no separate Coast Guard. This left the Navy handling warfare, territorial defence, and civilian duties like search-and-rescue and environmental protection.
“The resistance we see today is not about individuals. It is about 170 years of entrenched power dynamics and role confusion built into the system. Today’s leaders are dealing with a colonial blueprint that never separated civilian maritime safety from military defence,” Dr. Kiyaramo quoted Capt. Ichaba as saying.
With piracy, illegal fishing, oil theft, and drownings threatening Nigeria’s waters and blue economy, PC-NCG said the solution is structural clarity, not blame.
“In most coastal nations, the Navy handles military defence and territorial integrity, while the Coast Guard handles civilian duties such as maritime law enforcement, safety, search-and-rescue, and environmental protection. Both agencies complement each other,” Capt. Ichaba said.
“Until we address this 170-year structural error, Nigeria’s blue economy and coastal lives will remain at risk. The National Assembly has to pass the Nigerian Coast Guard Act now; for it to perform it’s distinct functions of maritime law enforcement so both agencies can secure Nigeria’s coast,” the statement concluded.
