NIWA, Parts Central unveil cleaning initiative, warn against pollution of inland waterways
NIWA, Parts Central unveil cleaning initiative, warn against pollution of inland waterways
Segun Oladipupo
National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and Parts Central Limited on Tuesday, unveiled environmental initiative for cleaning of Nigeria’s nland waterways
The initiative according to the duo, is a comprehensive environmental reform programme designed to identify sources of pollution and indiscriminate waste disposal in inland waterways, deploy structured systems for waste removal and conversion to economic value
The initiative which was conceived under the leadership of the immediate past Managing Director of NIWA, *Asiwaju Bola Oyebamiji, Is also to improve navigability, conserve aquatic biodiversity, and create jobs for riverine communities, as well as support the growth of Nigeria’s fisheries economy under the Blue Economy framework
Speaking at the unveiling through the Lagos Area Manager, the Acting Managing Director and Chief Executice Officer of NIWA, Umar Yusuf Girei called on all stakeholders to join, support Parts Central for a cleaner waterways,
While appreciating Parts Central and other stakeholders, he called on all stakeholders to collectively unlock the enormous potential of the waterways and convert it to economic wealth
Also speaking, the Lagos Area Manager, Engr. Sarat Braimah maintained that NIWA was unveiling Parts Central as the partner to waterways regulators explaining that what they are supposed to do is to make sure that inland waterways is safe for navigation
“Lagos is the nerve centre of Nigeria and whatever we want to do must start from Lagos State.
“The economy of Lagos depends solely on water. Making it work is to make sure that the water is clean and by so doing, it will create jobs for our youth.
“As Parts Central Limited is carrying out the operations, we are going to be the regulatory face.
“Most of the wastes are generated by boat operators and dredgers and we want to stop it. Most of the tank farms also discharge directly into the water. We must stop all these.
“The colour of water is supposed to be blue but here in Nigeria, it is black because of pollution.
She therefore called on boat operators and other stakeholders to cooperate with Parts Central to dispose their plastic wastes and can even be converted into useful items
On how to dispose wastes without returning to the waters, she appealed to dredgers to create a bar that will take the wastes away and not return to the water.
While unveiling the waste baskets, Hon. Henry Olaoluwa Onifade, Managing Director, Parts Central Limited said that the mandate was a collective saying everyone has a stake in it.
He posted that the waterways must be protected
I thank the management of NIWA from the MD to all the staff.
I say a big thank you to all the staff of Parts Central Limited.
The mandate is a collective that we all have a stake in we must make sure that we protect our waterways even as he warned that dumping if dumps into the waterways would no longer be allowed.
His words, “We cannot do what we were doing before in terms of things causing pollution. We are deploying technology that will capture every area. We will make sure that all boat must have NIWA and Parts Central waste tag.
“We implore the agents to give them the maximum cooperation.”
