The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has described as illegal, unconstitutional and indefensible the $40 million dollars being paid annually to some ex- militants ostensibly to guard the country’s pipelines.
In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said one of the main causes of the overheating of the polity today was the reckless manner political power was exercised and monopolised by a few individual.
“Regrettably some actions and inaction of this administration have lent credence to the widely held belief that this administration is waging and exerting power only for the benefits of a section of the country”, the party added.
The party recalled that on January 22, it issued a press release in which it queried the rationale behind the memo that was presented to the Federal Executive Council that month seeking the Council’s approval for a so-called strategic concessioning partnership between NIMASA and Global West to enforce regulatory compliance and surveillance of the entire Nigerian Maritime domain.
“In the same press release the party expressed serious concerns particularly because the Federal Government actually withdrew a bill before the National Assembly that would have carried out the same functions now being outsourced to a private firm.
“We state again emphatically that it is totally unacceptable and unconscionable – even unprecedented especially in a fragile federation like ours – for any government to hand over the security of its entire maritime domain to a private firm, a group of ex – militants for that matter given the far reaching implications of such a decision for trade, security, ports and shipping of the country.
“What is the agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan in allowing this to happen? Why would a government so willingly abdicate its responsibility of ensuring the security of its maritime domain? What were the ministers thinking when they approved this dangerous memo?” the party asked.