*Commissions slipway in Warri

The Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority, Dr. George Moghalu has said that henceforth unlicenced both drivers in the country will not be allowed to operate any boat or vessel.

The MD of NIWA said this in Warri, Delta State on Tuesday when he Commissioned a slipway project at the NIWA Warri Area office.

He said the decision was necessary so as to protect lives and property of Nigerians, stressing that most boat accident happen because some boat drivers were not licensed to drive.

He also said that NIWA is also banning night traveling in the Waterways since most accident recorded so far also occured at night.

On the issue of shallow Waterways in the country, the NIWA boss assured that the agency was on top of the matter as they are planning to procure more dredgers that will dredge the more than ten thousand kilometers of water channels in the country.

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He however said that for now commercial dredging is allowed so that most of the water channels will be opened for easy movement.

The NIWA boss also said that the authority has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a Company to provide adequate life jackets for maritime operations.

The managing director who also inspected some facilities at the NIWA Warri Area office,

expressed satisfaction at the cordial relationship between the staff and the stakeholders said security of the lifes of the people was crucial to the authority.

“We have all the facilities that is required to run a successful operations. Where it requires to service our equipment we do that.

“We talked to the Area Manager and staff to see how we can be involved. The important thing is to make the Warri Dockyard very functional.

Moghalu also said that the authority had determined to ensure 10000 kilometres of the inland Waterways across the country was cleared of water hyacinth with the aid of it’s Sampdevil equipment.

“NIWA have what we called Sampdevil equipment we used for regular clearing of some floating debris and water hyacinth on the waterfront,” he said.

Also speaking, Mr Isaac Tolar, Chairman, NIWA Warri Clients/ Stakeholders Consultative Forum attributed the successes achieved at the Warri Area office in the last four years to the cordial working atmosphere and closed relationship between clients and NIWA staff.

Mr Pius Oyiboaga, President, Igbudu host community to NIWA urged the managing director to consider them in the award of minor or major contracts to further strengthen the existing relationship.

Earlier in his opening remark, the NIWA Warri Area Manager, Mr Adamu Sagir said that the Warri office would sustain the existing cordial relationship among the staff, stakeholders and the host community.