The General Manager, Lagos Area Office of NIWA, Mr Muazu Sambo, who made this disclosure on Tuesday during the official visit of the agency’s Managing Director, Senator Adeleke Mamora, said that the quantum revenue growths over the years are as a result of the commitment and dedication of the Area office.
“It is largely due to commitment, dedication to duty and a spirit of resilience in the face of numerous challenges that have made it possible for the Area Office to record quantum revenue growths over the years.
“Our major revenue sources are derived from use of Right Of Way, Dredging/Reclamation, Registration Of watercrafts/vessels and Pipelines/utility crossings.
“From a mere N5.6m in 1999, our collection had risen to a peak of N132m in 2007, then declining to N100m by 2010, the year I call the ‘locust year’.
“However, through stakeholders’ interactive fora, NIWA Police enforcement of the Federal High Court judgment and active resistance to the impunity of Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) officials, our revenue began to witness a steady improvement from the N100m in 2010 to N472m by 2017.
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“Our revenue is currently standing at N412,425,485.03 (as at 29/10/18), and we expect it to rise to N573m as soon as we receive our anticipated payment due from AMCON,” the GM stated.
Sambo, however, stated that the Lagos Area Office has been challenged with the recovery of a current debt profile of about a quarter billion Naira (N250m) being outstanding default in payments by various individuals/organizations due to inadequate lawful means of doing so.
He added that there is inadequate CSR projects, especially those that would impact clients and water operators more positively.
The GM made a special appeal to the MD to critically look at reviewing its monthly imprest in view of the fact that Lagos has the largest jurisdiction of all NIWA’s.
Responding, the NIWA Managing Director urged the Lagos Area manager to put in more efforts and justify its position as the biggest operational area of NIWA.
“You talked about your revenue profile, that at a point it went down for reasons stated and happily again it is going up. But then you pride yourselves as the largest area office, so you must justify that ‘to whom much is given, much is expected.
“If you are in the hub like Lagos, then this figure here, you can even afford to triple it. So please work on that, I can assure you that the more you generate the more that will be given back to you. And the right environment includes you and your colleagues here as well,” Senator Mamora told the Lagos Area Manager.
The NIWA MD, however, vowed to end casualisation in the agency and promised to absorb all casual staff working with the agency.
Some of the jetties visited by the NIWA boss include Ijora, Oyingbo, Osborne, Tarzan and Ikoyi jetties.
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