I have just enjoyed reading the article by Dr. Aliyu Tilde captioned as in the lines above. Not to waste time, I submit to it that I did not see anything shocking about the issues raised through questioning and wondering in the maritime surveillance service delivery context and a presidential facilitation to work out a deal, especially now security is troubling and calls for disintegration of Nigeria are mounting.
As such, @Dr. Aliyu, my friend, I think we are talking of activities that will offer jobs to the unemployed Nigerians, including state of insecurity in the country to be challenged and turned around. In this case a maritime contract opportunity that is auto-financing and substantially of benefit yielding should be given a due process and chance. The maritime experts in this field should be taken in goodfaith.
The best we can do is to keep eyes on NIMASA. It appears also to me that the questions you have raised are questions around who are to be employed, national spread, time sharing payment of financial returns to Govt., are ones any objective assessor can raise to help in the monitoring.
Apart from these the rest of your questions are not necessarily important. For example, to argue that the Maritime surveillance is being awarded to the President's kinsmen as well as viewing the move as a way to create Niger Delta Nation is not fashionable and sincere. It is trying to heat up fear and regional ethnic mental and psychological bruises. Again we have all been talking about security in the region, do you not consider this offer will be best done by Niger Deltans? Will trying any company outside the involvement of Deltans work, not be sabotaged? Moreover, including the Navy to be in command is important and should not have been done the other way round.
I may disagree by paraphrasing the way you tuned it up that the Navy is a mere cover. No maritime security should be done outside the naval command in Nigeria. It will be a mistake to even think of keeping the navy away or provided with a secondary interest and action.
I had some studies in port management and harbour administration sometime in my career in Europe and I do understand what maritime services entail. For the Nigerian issues in the Niger Delta region and across the nation, maritime surveillance is a crucial military defense factor and this cannot be contracted to any foreign firm or body nor to a region not directly oriented in maritime life and culture. Neither should the strategic nature of maritime regulations, economic benefits, compliance and enforcement be played with or undermined by ethnic politics.
I consider there is a lot to re-chew in your arguments following paragraph 14 of the Memo. To be clear, I am not from Niger Delta region and I sincerely do not see any reason why a contract of maritime importance should not be in favour of the awardees for a start. After all, Dr. Aliyu, you know very well that someone will eventually be offered the contract to render the maritime service of entire surveillance and compliance around coastline activities in Nigeria. Operational capacity to manage coastline violence and intrusion, readiness and experiences must all be considered. Moreover, financial liquidity to address the needs in the service delivery is a factor that must influence choice of a contractor, not so? Wondering why the government cannot afford this is a misplaced consideration because the role of government also includes mobilizing and fostering entrepreneurship, resources and capacities to get things done.
By titling your article even with the word "shocking" it appears to readers like me that you have not helped the matter in a stronger contrary view. Meanwhile it appears the aim is to announce a shock-in-progress and hope to minimize the effort of the president as many of his critics often do. Likewise, it is to condition the president as an arm-chair one when the opportunity to turn the economy around through security surveillance contract auto-financing and supporting initiative like NIMASA is out there. One will think that instead of sharing in the view to speedily facilitate it, the write up can be classified as an attempt to sound somewhat bizarre. I do not know some other circumstances around it, and that notwithstanding, I think this is something that a presidential order should get going immediately in creating the so-badly needed jobs and enhanced security surveillance outfit around Nigerian water ways and coastlines. And let there be no mistake to adopting it in goodfaith. I also certainly think that your many worrying questions should best serve as concerns for the attention of those involved in the future handling of the contract portfolio review and renewal. How is that?
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