PC-NCG calls for immediate cessation of unauthorized activities in the name of proposed Nigerian Coast Guard

The Provisional Committee of the proposed Nigerian Coast Guard (PC-NCG) has called on all individuals, associations and groups currently presenting themselves as an operational Nigerian Coast Guard, or conducting recruitment, commissioning, training, appointment, promotion or other activities in the name of a Nigerian Coast Guard, to immediately cease such activities and align themselves with the lawful establishment process.

It is particularly necessary to address those who, having remained on the sidelines or outside the Coast Guard establishment process for years, but suddenly emerged—overnight, midway through the process, or upon hearing and observing the positive developments and increasingly favourable indications surrounding the proposed establishment of the Nigerian Coast Guard, and declared themselves as the Nigerian Coast Guard, establish commands, allocate ranks, announce appointments, recruit persons, legally ineffective harmonization or otherwise conduct themselves as though the statutory institution has already been established and operational.

Advertisements

The emergence of new interest in the Coast Guard vision and mission is not itself a problem; what is unacceptable is converting that renewed interest into a claim of existing governmental authority or a non-aligned group without a designated leader. Anyone is free to support the lawful establishment of the Coast Guard, but no individual or group can acquire statutory status merely because they arrived late, saw the emerging prospects, adopted the name, wore a uniform, or proclaimed themselves to be the institution. PC-NCG considers this a patriotic necessity in the interest of public safety, the protection of unsuspecting Nigerians, the preservation of the integrity of the Coast Guard project and the protection of individuals who may have been misled into believing that the proposed institution has already commenced operations.

The Nigerian Coast Guard remains a proposed institution. The distinction must be made clearly. The Provisional Committee of the proposed Nigerian Coast Guard is an advocacy and facilitation platform supporting the lawful establishment of a Nigerian Coast Guard. It is not itself the operational Nigerian Coast Guard. Similarly, the use of the name “Nigerian Coast Guard”, the wearing of a supposed uniform, the allocation of ranks, the issuance of identity cards or certificates, or the creation of a private command structure cannot by themselves establish a federal government security agency.

Advertisements

The Nigerian Constitution provides for the establishment of police and other government security services by law, while the Armed Forces are separately constituted under the constitutional and statutory framework governing them. Consequently, the authority to establish and operate a statutory Nigerian Coast Guard cannot be substituted by private declarations or self-appointed structures.

A serious warning from recent events. The reported 31 August 2026 operation in Akwa Ibom, during which 12 persons were arrested over an alleged unauthorised recruitment and training scheme operating under the name of a purported Nigeria Coast Guard, and the arrest and prosecution of 5 others in same Akwa Ibom State in the month of September 2026, demonstrates the seriousness of the issue-and smearing of the impending agency’s name.

The Nigerian Navy justly said the activities were outside recognised law and regulatory authority. PC-NCG does not regard such developments as matters to be exploited for political or personal advantage. Rather, they should serve as a warning to everyone involved. The Coast Guard vision should not continue to be a vehicle for misleading young Nigerians, collecting money under false pretenses, manufacturing private ranks or creating the impression that a statutory federal institution already exists. Ranks are not commodities.

PC-NCG also wishes to make it clear that a rank obtained through private declaration, financial contribution, gifts, personal loyalty, recruitment of persons, self-assigned, conferred without lawful authority or other informal arrangements does not thereby become a statutory government rank.

Likewise, a privately issued appointment does not automatically become a government appointment. A future Nigerian Coast Guard, if established by law, will require an appropriate statutory and administrative framework governing its: organisational structure; personnel establishment; recruitment; training; commissioning and appointment; ranks; promotions; discipline; conditions of service; command structure; and operational responsibilities.

Those matters must ultimately be determined through the lawful governmental framework. PC-NCG is therefore making an important distinction that this statement is not an invitation to conflict. It is an invitation to correction. At this defining moment, unity, integrity and lawful process are by far of greater advantage than factionalism, personal ambition, artificial ranks and the pursuit of individual interests or actions that may expose individuals to avoidable legal, reputational or institutional consequences.

Whatever personal interests may have been pursued all along should now be left behind and must not be allowed to obstruct the emergence of a lawful, credible and nationally owned Nigerian Coast Guard.

Those who genuinely believe in the vision should therefore place the interest of Nigeria above individual recognition, titles or factional advantage and unite with a process capable of producing an institution that will command public confidence and withstand the test of law. Anyone currently involved in unauthorised Coast Guard activities who genuinely believes in the Nigerian Coast Guard vision should have the opportunity to disengage from unlawful or unauthorised activities and preserve his or her legitimate professional identity and experience.

A person may have maritime knowledge without being a statutory Coast Guard officer. A person may have served in maritime security without possessing a government Coast Guard commission. A person may have contributed to the Coast Guard advocacy movement without having an automatic entitlement to a future government rank.

There is therefore no need for anyone to continue operating outside the law merely to preserve a title. The future Nigerian Coast Guard must not become the property of competing factions. It must belong to Nigeria. Its personnel must ultimately be selected through lawful and professionally defensible procedures. Its command structure must derive from law. Its powers must derive from law. Its uniforms and ranks must have statutory or regulatory foundation. Its officers must possess genuine qualifications.

Its operations must be accountable to the Nigerian state. And its relationship with the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Police Force, NSCDC and other relevant institutions must be clearly defined by law and regulation. This is how a national institution is built. PC-NCG therefore calls upon all concerned persons: Stop unauthorised recruitment. Stop private commissioning. Stop selling or purchasing ranks. Stop collecting money or materials in exchange for appointments or promotions. Stop representing private organisations as the operational Nigerian Coast Guard. Stop creating false expectations among unsuspecting Nigerians. Stop now, preserve your professional dignity, and join us to pursue the lawful process. For those who have been misled, correction remains possible. For those who genuinely possess valuable maritime expertise, there remains a place for legitimate professional contribution.

For those who believe in the Coast Guard vision, the most important contribution they can make now is to protect the integrity of the institution they claim to support. Let us choose lawful establishment over private proclamation; professionalism over artificial rank; national service over personal empire; and institution-building over factional competition. The Nigerian Coast Guard must ultimately be an institution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria—not the personal property of any individual or group as that is not objective of PC-NCG. Nigeria must always be greater. A No Blue Economy Without Blue Security and Blue Justice.

Signed: Capt. Noah Ichaba, CE & AO, PC-NCG.

Advertisements

Advertisements