NIWA to partner military, others to secure waterways

The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has it will partner the military and para-military agencies to strengthen security in the waterways.

Warri Area Manager of NIWA, Mr Shaba Afeso, made the disclosure on Wednesday in a chat with journalists in Warri.

He said that synergising with the relevant security agencies was necessary to effectively curtail the activities of the criminal elements perpetrating evils in the maritime domain.

Afeso noted that insecurity was not peculiar to NIWA, but a national phenomenon that was currently being addressed by the government.

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According to the area, cautions security of life and property in the waterways was paramount to NIWA, hence the need to provide adequate protection.

“In spite of the fact that government is on top of the situation, we want to synergise with the Navy, Nigerian Army, Marine police, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps and others.

“The whole essence is to have our waterways adequately secured. We also want to have an enlarged Joint Task Force to secure the life and properties of those using the waterways.

“Having an enlarged Joint Taskforce will go beyond cowing bandits. It is going to be a physical confrontation for those who do not want to be law-abiding,” he said.

Afeso, who assumed duty in May, said he had also put in place other security-related programmes in the creeks to educate the locals on the need to be security conscious.

According to him, a monitoring team had volunteered to educate the residents in the coastal areas within his jurisdiction to enable them to know that security begins with them.

“We are putting a human relationship to this insecurity issue by engaging the stakeholders in dialogue. For those who will not embrace dialogue, they will be met with the toughest resistance.

“We want to beat their imagination knowing the dynamics of the Niger Delta, their hideouts and when they will probably strike,” he said.

The NIWA boss said that the authority had concluded plan to buy and distribute safety jackets to some boat operators and also educate them on the dangers of overloading to minimised boat mishaps.

“It is not all about wearing Life Jackets, we should also try not to overload our boats to avoid mishaps and possibly loss of life,” he said.