Maritime

NIWA Commissions 3 Patrol Boats, Initiates Joint Taskforce

As part of effort to maintain and enforce all safety measures being applied on the waterways, the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), has inaugurated a joint task force team that comprises all security and law enforcement agencies in Lagos state.

The Managing Director of the agency, Dr. George Moghalu in his remark a stakeholders meeting in Lagos recently stated that the enforcement is not all about NIWA jetties alone but for all jetties including private and government-owned jetties, stressing that the introduction of the newly inaugurated joint task force in Lagos will spread across all riverine areas in Nigeria.

Moghalu said the agency has distributed 20 patrol boats so far and efforts are in place to acquire more boats, stressing that NIWA is collaborating with all other security and law enforcement in the country.

The NIWA boss disclosed that the agency has started automation of boat registration to create sanity, ease of doing business, reduce physical interference, except on inspection and it is cost saving. With this development, one can register and re-register his/her boat in any part of the country and get notified/alert three months before the expiration time.

According to Moghalu, provision of navigational aid will be made in due time. He however appealed to the general public to stop vandalization and stealing of water lines, lights and other facilities on the waterways, while promising that more boats will be acquired on Lagos – Badagry and Lagos – Ikorodu routes, as long as resources are available.

“In most mishaps, people blame captains of recklessness and that was what motivated us into opening a training school in Warri and in partnership with another company for the training of captains and boat crew members. It is our mandate to train captains and boat crew and so far, NIWA has trained over two hundred captains and boat crew in Warri, Yenogoa, Port Harcourt and others”, Moghalu said.

editor

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