The National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA, Lagos Area Office has said that the Lagos waterways have been mapped from Marina to Ikorodu and from Marina to Badagry to boost safety of water transportation in the area.
The Area Manager, Lagos Area Office, NIWA, Engr. Sarat Braimah who disclosed this in her remarks at the 10th anniversary, lecture and awards put together by Primetime Reporters in Lagos recently, said that the agency was making efforts to digitalize water transportation in order to unlock the potential in the sector.
Represented by the Head, Marine Department of the agency, Engr. Elsie Egwuatu, Braimah hinted that the Authority was also making efforts to move with the trends of leveraging technology to maximize the potential of Nigeria’s blue economy.
“In our river Ports, we have state-of-the-art cargo handling equipment to increase capacity in running the ports. We also have Search and Rescue unit that is also equiped with technological innovations that afford us to respond to emergency in record time”, she said.
Braimah, however, commended Primetime Reporters for the vital role it plays in the maritime sector adding,”I have this view that in life, regarding power, next to God is the government and after the government, you get the media because the media play a very important role in making or marring any sector.
“The celebrant, Primetime Reporters, I want to use this opportunity to wish you a happy birthday and also to urge you to continue what you are doing and NIWA is open to support you in any way that is possible.”
On his part, former Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Shippers’Council, NSC, Barr. Hassan Bello called for support of the government for NIWA to succeed in its mandate noting that it had the capacity to transform the blue economy if strengthened and empowered.
Bello maintained that NIWA should be the paramount beneficiary of the blue economy insisting that if NIWA was strengthened and empowered, it could transform the economy of this country.
He continued, “I have seen NIWA struggling to set up business meetings with investors. I have seen and read about four of them, investors, so, it’s not NIWA now as a government agency just in subventions or allocation.
“NIWA has the potentiality of doing that and we should encourage NIWA, we should empower NIWA so that it will work with the barges, have some regulatory roles – what is going to happen if there’s collusion? What about the insurance, the cargo and many other things? We should develop a legal framework for transportation of cargo through inland waterways. It will save our roads, all this heavy loads on our roads, a barge can take about twenty trailers, all you need to do is to dredge the rivers Niger and Benue.
“We have port in Onitsha and in Baro but the port of Baro was commissioned about many years ago but not a single cargo is there. I guess NIWA is trying to redress this. So, we have to support NIWA because it can transform this blue economy.
Photo: (L-R): Engr. Elsie Egwuatu, Head, Marine Department, NIWA presenting the award plaque to Otunba Abdulazeez Babatunde Mukaila on behalf of Primetime Reporters while Mr. Saint Augustine Nwadinamuo, Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of Primetime Reporters looks on.
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