Maritime Surveillance and Enforcement Privatisation Galore in Nigeria: A Compromise of State Sovereignty
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Date
2013
Authors
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Publisher
Faculty of Law, University of Maiduguri
Abstract
The freedom to participate in seaborne trade is one of the most vital engines motivating global economic progress and development in recent times the world over. Coastlines, territorial waters, High Seas and ports to a large depend on security in the world maritime domain. however, the serious threat posed to the global order by the international terrorism, piracy, theft and bunkering to mention but a few have given to and all important national security concerns among the port states. In response to these challenges, some states have increased their strategy with the establishment of maritime security enforcement forces like the Coast Guard in U.S, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) in Malaysia and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), to address the problem. However, the Nigerian government has now changed the policy and firmed-out enforcement and surveillance activities in the entire Nigerian maritime domain to a private security company. This paper argues that the issue of maritime enforcement and surveillance goes beyond the activities of private individuals and besides, the policy usurps the constitutional powers of the legislature which established NIMASA through an Act of the National assembly as well as the responsibility of the navy. The paper also maintains that the concession of maritime surveillance and enforcement to a private security company is a total misunderstanding of the use of private security companies in maritime practice and by so doing it amounts to a compromise of national sovereign in the hands of a few private persons whose antecedents are unholy.
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Keywords
Maritime, Surveillance, Enforcement, Galore and Compromise
Citation
Vol. 10, U.Maid L.J