The traditional ruler of Galadimawa, Garki in Abuja, Alhaji Musa Barde, has donated an office space to the Nigerian Merchant Navy to facilitate smooth operations of the organisation.
This was even as he urged the Federal Government to offer recognition to the association to complement security at the country’s seaports.
The donation came after the Chief of Nigerian Merchant Navy, Commodore Ichukwu Agaba, while exchanging views with the monarch, assured that the corps would complement the current effort of security agencies for a secured territorial integrity.
He said the Nigerian Coastal Defence Force had been existing and carried out operations during the colonial era and independence and was also accorded status of a security agency by Federal High Court on February 11, 2016 in a judgment delivered in its favour.
Agaba said: “We will complement other security agencies’ operations because we are constitutionally saddled with the responsibility of monitoring and stopping pollution of Nigerian territorial waters, combating crimes in the seaports, providing rescue operations, checking importation of illegal sophisticated weapons and putting a total stop to illegal oil bunkering activities,”
Responding, the monarch said he agreed that the recognition by government would assist to tighten up security at the seaports and also create employment for the youths.
He said, “Personally, I read the background and operations of this organisation and have seen that as a nation, we need them in this challenge of insecurity in our country.
“It is imperative that government considers them and officially makes them part of the security system because they will really help in safeguarding our territorial waters from the grip of criminals and external aggressors,” he said.
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