The Federal Government is set to make water transportation a first choice of travelling for many Nigerians.
The federal government also noted that it has commenced an upward review of salaries of the authority’s personnel.
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, National Inland Waterways Authority NIWA, Dr George Moghalu disclosed this at an interface with some media executives yesterday in Abuja.
He said NIWA has been evolving strategies aimed at boosting staff morale and that regular training are now conducted for all category of staff.
While he said the Authority is tackling navigational challenges and accidents on the nation’s waterways, Moghalu added that NIWA has concluded arrangements to deploy ambulances in all its Area Offices.
He said; “I will like a situation whereby when I leave office as Managing Director of NIWA, if there is anything I want to have on record, I want it to be recorded in my favour that water transportation became the transport means of choice both for cargo and personnel.
“We have built world-class beautiful jetties in some places, crafts, placed an order for dredgers, addressing issues of navigational challenge, accidents on our waterways. Quiet soon, we are going to deploy ambulances to the various area offices and we have improved on the morale of our staff. As we speak now, there has been a salary review and we have done quite a lot of training for all cadre of staff while some are ongoing.
“Also, water hyacinth and floating debris are some of the major challenges on our highways and as we speak, we have done a lot of clearing. We are still doing it because it is not a one-off thing”.