The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) was established by Decree No. 13 of 1997 under the late General Sani Abacha administration with a clear mandate to manage Nigeria’s vast inland waterway resources. The inland waterways of Nigeria comprise two main rivers, River Benue and River Niger, which form a confluence in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.
It also has creeks, lagoons, lakes and intra-coastal waters. Although attempts were made to dredge the lower River Niger in 1958 and 1978, the dredging project was eventually approved by the Federal Military Government under the late Abacha in 1996.
During the late Umaru Yar’Adua’s tenure, a new contract was signed in December 2008 involving five supervising consultants and four contractors. In 2012, the dredging of River Niger was completed. Yar’Adua had River Benue in mind next and, in 2013, the then Managing Director of NIWA, Alhaji Ahmed Yar’Adua, said feasibility studies had been completed on the dredging of River Benue and construction of a river port in Makurdi. At about the same period, a female member of the House of Representatives from Adamawa State called for an extension of the dredging activities to Yola and the construction of a river port in Yola as well. Under President Goodluck Jonathan’s leadership, his then Information and National Orientation Minister, Labaran Maku, made a public statement that the Federal Government would soon commence the dredging of River Benue, up to Yola in Adamawa State. Subsequently, in October 2014, the Federal Government announced that a contract for the dredging of River Benue had been signed, but that work was yet to commence on it.
Presently under President Muhammadu Buhari, the Managing Director of NIWA, Mr Gida Mustapha, in December 2016, while interacting with newsmen in Lokoja, disclosed that the N10 billion inland ports under construction in Baro, Lokoja, and Ogoja had reached 98 per cent, 57 per cent and 75 per cent completion, respectively. He also said that the Oguta port in Imo State had reached 70 per cent completion while Onitsha port had been completed. According to him, 10 other jetties were also being constructed across the country.
From the foregoing, I can sense a case of exclusiveness because the dredging of River Niger and the construction of a port have been completed while some are nearing completion, but that of River Benue and the Makurdi and Yola ports have not commenced. I therefore call on Governors Samuel Ortom of Benue State and Bindo Jibrilla of Adamawa State as well as serving senators and representatives from both states to pay President Buhari a visit and commune with him on the need to direct NIWA to discuss the dredging of River Benue and construct river ports in Makurdi and Yola so as to erase the ill feelings that have been generated over the years.
Donald Gaadi,
Abuja.
and then