By Phil Okose Onitsha

The new managing di­rector of the National Inland Waterways Au­thority (NIWA), Sena­tor Olorunimbe Mamorah has lamented the degree of rot to machineries and equipments at the Onitsha River Port.

Making the lamentation during his official working vis­it to the port on Monday, Ma­morah recalled that the port, which was built in the admin­istration of former president, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, had since then been left uncared for which caused most of the in­stallations, especially the ma­chinery and equipment to rot away.

His words, “Onitsha is a com­mercial city and highest in the whole of Africa. It shows the level of industry. I am here at the Onitsha River Port to have on the spot assessment of the situation at NIWA Onitsha. From Alhaji Shehu Shagari till now it is a long time. I was made to understand that it was refurbished in 2012 but from 2012 till now, nothing has hap­pened much till now as par full utilisation of the port. It is not a good thing for us and the coun­try”.

The good thing there is that President Muhammadu Bu­hari’s regime is rectifying the problem within the confined of the law. He is trying to revamp the place and it is reaching the final stage of concession. It is a pity that a lot has been done there, the equipments have been lying waste, ware houses unused. We have a lot of things that are to be put to use but are not being used. Even the ma­chineries have been lying fal­low for a long time.

This is why we want to en­sure this place takes off again. There are lots of expectations. I doubt if we have this kind of port in Nigeria. A port that has three levels, lower, middle and top levels. I am aware that of the cargo that comes into La­gos, about 30 per cent of them stay in Lagos while the rest comes to Onitsha. On the al­leged encroachment on NIWA’s property, the MD reiterated that “we will not close our eyes and allow anybody to take over NIWA land.

“If anybody has right of own­ership of the property let him come and show the documents in support of the claim. I will not be bordered about the amount of black mail and intimidation they may use as long as what we are doing is on our own in­terest” he further stated.

https://orientdailynews.com.ng/geopolis/south-east/niwa-boss-raises-alarm-over/





lalasticlala seun mynd44

I'm not surprised.
Oga is keeping to his words.
5% folks getting less than 5% attention in this useless administration.

This is my Comment