LAGOS – Hajia Maryam Ciroma, the Managing Director, National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), said on Thursday that the management would ensure that the nation’s waterways were free to attract more investors into the country.
Ciroma said this during the first International Stakeholders Dinner held in Lagos.
She said that if the waterways were dredged constantly, it would enable port expansion to various parts of the state and would also reduce congestion of cargoes at the Lagos ports.
Ciroma said that there were numerous potential in water transportation which Nigeria was yet to tap into.
She said that ferry transportation reduced time spent in road traffic in moving from one place to another.
Ciroma said that just one movement of ships with containers would remove the movement of 30 trucks of containers from Nigerian roads.
She said that there was need for the expansion of the ports to other states.
“Apart from water transportation, the nation’s waterways can be used for tourism activities and it will also create huge job opportunities for Nigerians.
“The dredging of the Onitsha River Port is completed; Imo state port is about 72 per cent completed, Kogi State port is about 60 per cent completed.
“Once all these are completed, it will reduce the pressure on the roads and also reduce the time of doing business across the country,” Ciroma said.
She said that the completion of the ports extension project would also give room for more terminal operators to expand their business and increase revenue for the Federal Government.
Chief Femi Ajisafe, General Manager, Research, Planning and the Environment department of NIWA said that the authority would hold an intentional conference and exhibition in August in Lagos, to expose more people to water transport operations.
Ajisafe said that the authority also planned to host an international conference on water hyacinth management. (NAN)
