RENEWED HOPE AGENDA OF THE APC GOVERNMENT:ADDED REASON TO ESTABLISH NIGERIAN COAST GUARD

The Chief Executive and Accounting Officer of the Provisionary Committee of the proposed Nigerian Coast Guard (PC-NCG), Captain Noah Ichaba has drawn the attention of relevant authorities to the essence of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope Agenda” for 2023–2027 a governing policy framework for Nigeria, which aimed at driving economic growth, bolstering security and improving 

citizens’ livelihood, by focus on revenue generation, employment and to hit a target of $1 trillion economy by 2030. 

The above projected sum and the vision of the entire policy framework for the nation will be surpassed with the establishment, operation and deliveries of Nigerian Coast Guard, which will enforce, secure and safeguard the open maritime commercial accomplishments involving shipping, ocean transportation and several other associated duties and services, because, it is conscientiously true that the impending agency will be the safety, security and enforcement pillar of the Nigerian Maritime Business Activities.

It has been harped over and again that ‘Revenue Earnings from the combined segments of Nigeria’s Maritime Domain, surpasses earnings from the Crude Oil, with the right agency in place, and that the nation’s fortune in this regard had been hampered due to the absence of a functional Nigerian Coast Guard, that its beneficial services comes with positive and multiple multiplier effects to the economy and the nation. It has been said again and again that Nigeria’s national image and international prestige would be out of the trenches if Coast Guard Agency is established, and that Coast Guard will have the greatest contribution to the economy as it is the nation’s Cash-Cow that has been neglected over the years, to her utter detriment and mesmerizing hopelessness. 

The PC-NCG is committed to its facilitative conviction and lucid presentation. As a result, wishes to plainly state that ‘renewed hope refers to a restored, refreshed or revitalized sense of optimism and expectation for a positive outcome, particularly after a long period of doubt, despair, difficulty, drain, defeat and damn among others. 

It signifies a methodological plan of thing to be done to achieve a comeback of confidence in the immediate and future, which will be accompanied by renewed energy or a concerted effort to create better conditions for the country, her citizens and external prestige.

The problems to be addressed through renewed hope includes “revival of Belief” by making Nigerians feel optimistic again about possibilities that previously seemed impossible. “Overcoming Despair” by doing things differently this time around and moving past the period of hopelessness that has characterized every facet of Nigeria’s doings. Have “Active Expectation” by actively believing that good things will happen and trials will be overcome. “Resilience and Action” which will involve decision to keep moving forward in the right direction regardless of challenges.

A “renewed hope for the future” after a invented predicaments. A “renewed hope initiative” designed to improve governing policy and human lives.

There is no gainsaying the fact that several bills for the establishment of specialized maritime security force or agency have been presented to the Nigerian National Assembly from the first Republic in 1963 till the current administration in 2026. That initiatives witnessed over 22 of such Bills include the Nigeria Coast Guard Bill of 2008, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2024, the Nigerian Maritime Security Trust Fund Bill 2020/2021 and the Nigerian Marine Corps Establishment Bill of 2023 among many others before these, which were introduced to enhance security in the maritime industry and the ones that passed third reading and were sent to the President for accent never saw the light of day. While various security-related maritime bills have been introduced, these represent specific legislative attempts to create dedicated maritime force or security trust. The hopes were dashed, dumped and destroyed majorly because of selfishness or unwillingness to accept that Coast Guard is the right agency for maritime law enforcement in Nigerian Maritime Domain. 

Let anyone travel to the space or to the great beyond and back or graduated from the most renown academy or institution in any part of the globe, the person will come back armed with an unbending truth about the “inevitability of the Coast Guard” for any nation with a coastline, affirming that the establishment, operation and reliance upon a maritime security force is a certainty that cannot be avoided, for several national, international, economic, security, safety and maritime business reasons.

This position implies that as maritime activity, national security and economic interests in coastal waters increase, a dedicated force is necessary to manage these, rendering the existence of a Coast Guard Agency indispensable, rather than optional.

Coast Guard has unavoidable functions of handling 11 major missions, from search-and-rescue to maritime law enforcement, which are essential services that must occur, making the force “inevitable”. Maritime Safety Necessity for Coast Guard as a force, it is responsible for safety, order and the operation of maritime traffic in neighboring 

waters. Response to Risk: The necessity of the Coast Guard arises from the need to manage riskssuch as environmental disasters, illegal trafficking, and threats to maritime security. Strategic Evolution of the Coast Guard’s role is evolving, but the fundamental need for a force dedicated to policing, safety and regulation in the maritime domain 

remains, often requiring adaptation to new challenges.

In essence, Coast Guard is not merely a bureaucratic choice but a mandatory, 

“inevitable” requirement for national security, maritime sovereignty and the respect of a coastal nation like Nigeria.

Renewed Hope Agenda realizes that Coast Guard is a cash-cow of the nation, the life-wire of the maritime activities, the respected face at the international table, the fourth pillar responsible for implementing ISPS Code, an occupational name that reinforces 

Nigeria’s global standing in Africa and the extermination of the maladies of the multiple Ds pointed out above.

Therefore, it is apt to end the problems of unethical choice, hypoactive anxiety, 

disorderly disconnect, reprehensible blindness and avoidance of concrete duty that has worked against the establishment of Nigerian Coast Guard and so that the Government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will not be caught in the web of struggle, cowardice and burying of head in the sand. Let unavoidable duty take precedence over desire.

No one talks about maritime activities and refuse to talk about its rightly designated lagency for its security, safety and law enforcement. To say that maritime business should exist without Coast Guard is like saying that an airplane should fly without

wings or that human-body should live without its spirit. 

Like human beings and their inseparable shadow, Nigeria maritime business cannot be separated from having an autonomous Maritime Law Enforcement Agency – which is Nigerian Coast Guard. Here is the patriotic treasure of wisdom, knowledge and assured cash-cow of the nation that has been neglected for too long. This is Nigeria’s ordained 

destiny, as a nation with the largest River Systems in the World, designed to occupy a strategic location, and an enviable position by the Designer of the Universe.

With the Renewed Hope Agenda, now is the right time to exercise a defying will-

power by doing the needful, dutiful, historic, legitimate, rewarding, prestigious, advantageous, selfless and noble action by Establishing the neglected CASH-COW of the nation, so that essence of the Renewed Hope Agenda regarding Nigeria’s maritime 

domain will not end as a chorus without stanzas.