By Kenneth Jukpor
National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has expressed readiness to partner with the Association of Marine Engineers and Surveyors (AMES) to ensure that only standard vessels are allowed on the nation’s waterways.
The Managing Director of NIWA, Senator Mamora Olorunnimbe said this while addressing an executive delegation of AMES, led by its President, Engr. Adeyinka Okunade, earlier today.
According to the NIWA boss, the high volume of outdated vessels on the nation’s waterways coupled with the high number of unprofessionals managing the vessels, have been responsible for the frequent mishaps on waterways.
Speaking on the safety of personnel and vessels that ply the nation’s waterways, Mamora said, “It is the duty of NIWA to ensure that the vessels plying Nigerian waterways meet up with the expected demands of the system. We want to be sure that the vessels are standard because outdated vessels have consistuted a large portion of the problem of mishaps on the waterways. These vessels should be at the museums and not Nigerian waterways. We need to partner with AMES to rid our waterways of such vessels”
Earlier, the President of AMES, Mr. Adeyinka had stated that AMES could partner with NIWA to ensure standards of vessels and competence of the operators.
The President of AMES also identified the dearth of professional Marine Engineers and Surveyors as a problem which had affected the growth of the nation’s maritime sector in terms of human capacity development.
“There is insufficient number of competent marine engineers and surveyors in our maritime industry generally and NIWA will not be exempted from the effect of this deficiency” he said.
The association also stressed the importance of river dredging, operational conditions of the jetties and safety navigation on the waters, as germane issues that could enhance the viability and patronage of the waterways.
On the problem of insufficient number of competent marine surveyors in the maritime industry, Senator Mamora expressed regret even as he noted that the potentials of the few available marine engineers and surveyors was not been maximized.
However, he stressed that NIWA would ensure it tapped into the human capital resource available at AMES, while he revealed that the Authority was planning to recruit some members of staff in the field of marine engineering and survey.
Mamora also called for private sector investment in the aspect of jetty construction and management, noting that the government was open to partnerships as long as efficiency would be guaranteed in the system.
“The most important thing is efficiency. It doesn’t matter who owns the jetty. Anybody can own a jetty just like anyone could own a motor garage and the drivers or car owners would pay the necessary levies for the facility” he said.
However, he stressed that the onus was on the Federal Government to create an enabling environment that would make such investments thrive.
