NIWA To Phase Out Wooden Boats On Inland Waterways, Says MD

The National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA, has said that it was moving towards phasing out wooden boats on inland waterways.

Speaking at an interaction with editors over the weekend in Lagos, the Managing Director of NIWA, Bola Oyebamiji, said  wooden boats constituted over 90 percent of boats on the waterways, and they also accounted for the majority of accidents on the waterways nationwide.

During the event which focused largely on the safety of the waterways and expansion of water travel, Mr Oyebamiji also said that wooden boats had no regard for operational rules, which included no night travel, no overloading, and compulsory use of life jackets by both operators and passengers.

Speaking on how to resolve the issue in the short term, the NIWA MD said his agency had increased the number of its marshals at jetties from 80 to 350 across the entire country, and they had also embarked on a rigorous campaign both at the jetties and via the media in both English and the local languages of the communities covered.