
By Innocent Orok
The Managing Director of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Mr Bola Oyebamiji, has called for deeper private sector participation in the blue economy initiative to harness greater benefits from the Blue economy for national development.
Oyebamiji made the call during his tour of the Warri and Onitsha Area Offices.
He said that NIWA is determined to revamp the nation’s economy by consolidating on the Public Private Partnerships (PPP) initiatives.
He emphasied the need to boost security on the Inland waterways and said that the NIWA will collaborate more with security agencies to ensure more patrols on the nation’s inland waterways.
“We will be looking at possible ways to increase collaboration with the various security agencies to ensure more patrols on the nation’s waterway,” the NIWA MD stated.
He said “This initiative is part of our deliberate plans to open up new opportunities to maximized full economic potentials of the nation’s waterways.
“The PPP is the way to go, but we need people or investors, who have genuine intentions and purposes to enable us align with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda for economic recovery”.
The NIWA Managing Director further tasked the staff to live up to expectations by working harder in revenue generation that could open rooms to better their welfare.
He warned the staff against indolence and laxity since he was committed to staff welfare and revenue generation. According to him, there is need for the staff to be disciplined and committed by rededicating themselves to the growth and development of the Authority.
Oyebamiji also assured the staff of regular training and retraining for optimum performance. The NIWA boss began a tour to inspect Area Offices under his jurisdiction beginning from Onitsha River Port complex, the authority’s yard, shoreline, and NIWA newly built concrete jetty.