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MD NIWA, Mr Danladi Ibrahim |
commitment to starting a regional ferry service from Lagos, Nigeria to Tema in
Ghana, since it disclosed plans of the proposed operation.
discussions on the proposed regional ferry services had advanced with the investor
and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, with hopes for approval by the
transportation minister.
infrastructure to boost inland waterways transportation, as evident in the
completed river ports and those still being constructed.
development of the river ports?
the North. This is important because it will ease cargo carriage on the Inland
Waterways and for trans-shipment.
moment from now. Lokoja Port is about 58 per cent completed. The cargo handling equipment for Baro Port are
going to be acquired from this 2016 budget; that means it is going to be an
operational port at the time the 2016
budget is implemented.
Onitsha to Baro. That means trans- shipment will be completed. We have also
gone further to seek for private sector participation in the carriage of cargo
from Lagos to Onitsha. There is a Chinese company called China Habour
Engineering that is interested, and we have met with them and we are expecting
their technical report to commence business.
encourage water transportation, NIWA has gone on to purchase about three
ferries within the present administration. We have also added some security
patrol boats to our fleet to also enhance the safety of cargo and passenger.
in Pategi in Kwara , Lubego in Niger State, Umuasha in Nasarawa State and then
Buruku in Benue State.
safety for users of jetties?
is to sensitize stakeholders particularly the rural passengers, on the
importance of safety on the waterways by insisting that life jackets be worn by
every passenger.
because most of the boat mishap happens at night. And we have succeeded tremendously
because the number of boat mishaps has reduced drastically, and we are
continuing with that campaign. Our next port of call is Kaduna State and now we
will be in continuance of the safety campaigns.
NIMASA the mandate to enforce. The ones that concern NIWA basically are about
three terminals-Lagos, Calabar and Warri, and all of them are in compliance.
ensure that all our platforms are really secured in line with international
standards. Just like the way you see our airports with screening facilities,
that is how it is going to be in all the platforms.
operators?
Government in that regard and we are collaborating with them to have an
effective enforcement. And after 60 days, we wish to commence our operations in
this regard.
water hyacinth menace is an international issue because these waste flow from
other countries to Nigeria. We intend in this 2016 to have an international
conference on how to tackle water hyacinths
people to be trained in the UK and so, we can boast of in-house marine
surveyors.
Governor on how we can streamline these taxes and we are succeeding. And we are
going to see the same replicated in other states.