Category: News

The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has appealed to maritime operators to remit their relevant dues to the authority to enhance service delivery.

The Warri Area Manager of NIWA, Mr Shaba Afeso made the appeal on Monday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Warri.

Afeso said that a lot of the authority’s clients were not responding properly in terms of remittance of their dues.

According to him, though the authority is committed to providing good services to its clients, that will only be possible when the maritime operators pay their dues promptly.

“We are appealing that our clients should pay up their relevant dues to the authority so that we can serve them better and also contribute our quota to the economy.

“Most of our clients have no reason not to comply with payment, we appreciate their challenges but they should also appreciate our challenges too,’’ Afeso said.

According to him, the dues include, the use of jetties, registration of any kind of vessel plying the Nigeria waterways.

“Others are dues in respect of dredging, Well head cleaning, drilling, installation of Well head, use of right of way, registration of water equipment among others,” he added.

The NIWA chief also identified the abandonment of wrecked vessels and badges on the waterways as another major challenge the authority is contending with.

Afeso said the authority had made public announcement through mass media in Delta, urging owners of the wrecked vessels to evacuate them but to no avail.

“We have informed our clients through radio, television and newspapers in Delta that they should remove their wreckages and we gave them an ultimatum that elapsed in May.

“We made them to know that when we remove the wreckages for them, it will automatically become the properties of the government.

“In the interest of peace, we are still appealing that they should go and remove their wreckages. We have our own checklist of the owners,” he said.

Afeso advised the owners to apply to NIWA for verification of ownership of the wreckages, adding that once it was certified, the owner could proceed and evacuate it from the waterways.

He warned that any that any attempt to circumvent the procedure would attract appropriate sanctions as provided by law.

Source: The Guardian

The new Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, has revealed that its face-off with the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) is down to revenue, and not on any other reason.

This is even as he vowed not to go outside the NIWA Act to settle the rift between the Federal Government agency and its Lagos State counterpart.

Speaking recently in Lagos to newsmen, Senator Olorunimbe Mamora explained that his administration would explore an out-of-court settlement in the face-off between the Federal agency and LASWA in order to bring a win-win situation for both parties.

In the past few years, both NIWA and LASWA have been in court over who should have control over Lagos waterways assets, issuing of permits to operators and collection of revenue.

According to the former senator, “We can achieve a lot through the indirect or informal, rather than formal processes. The tendency is that there may be too much bureaucracy. There are legal and constitutional issues, no doubt, and that is why the matter is in court, but you can choose to settle issues out of court.”

While disabusing insinuations that being a Lagos politician might allow LASWA gain a upper hand in the face-off, the NIWA MD added that, “I think it is the prerogative of Mr President to appoint people where he wants them to serve. The fact that I am from Lagos has generated a lot of interest on the issue between LASWA and the NIWA, a lot of people have made phone calls to me, accosted me to ask what I will do.

“However, I won’t go outside the NIWA Act to take a stance on the face-off with LASWA. I won’t do anything outside the NIWA Act while pursuing a peaceful resolution to the issue.”

The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) on Monday expressed readiness to settle conflict with the Lagos State Government out-of-court in order to make way for an effect coastal operations.

The NIWA Managing Director, Mr Olorunibe Mamora, made the disclosure in Lagos.

There had been a protracted legal tussle between the Federal Government and Lagos Governments over which of them controls waterways in Lagos with huge economic potential.

“We are looking at the benefits of the sector in terms of transportation, tourism and sundry economic empowerment of the people, and not who wins at the court that is far from our aim.

“The dispute cannot continue for the common good; our country is blessed with navigable coastal line; there is need for us to explore such for the benefit of our people.

“If Nigeria should harness the potential in the coastal areas in the area of transportation for instance, there will be less pressure on our roads, and citizens interactions be promoted,’’ Mamora, a two-time Speaker at the Lagos Assembly, said.

According to him, there will be more effective inland waterways transport system nationwide if the NIWA Act before the National Assembly sails through.