NIWA says bad roads, others limit river port development

The Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority, Senator Olorunimbe Mamora, has listed bad access roads, lack of rail link, recycled and abandoned river crafts and others as major limitations to the development of river ports in the country.

Mamora, who was represented by an engineer with the Lagos office of NIWA, Stanley Onuoha, stated this while speaking during the fourth annual conference of the Platforms Communications tagged: A Day with Nigerian Maritime Students.

He said, “There are a lot of challenges in developing river ports in Nigeria and these cannot be isolated from the overall inadequacies that bedevil the maritime sector.
“It is either there is inadequate infrastructure on the ground, or the still existing ones are not being optimally utilised. A major challenge being faced by most existing ports is the lack of the concept of intermodality. Some of them lack good access roads. There is no efficient rail system to evacuate cargoes, even at times walkways linking the ports make it difficult for the timely transfer of cargoes to and from the ports.

“A river port cannot operate until there are available boats to generate traffic and service such port. But the ones available are becoming unserviceable with regular breakdowns.”
The NIWA MD pointed out that there had been a downward trend on investment in the acquisition of rivercraft , adding that old and abandoned ones were usually recycled and they often developed problems while on transit.
“The wrecks all over our waterways may be practical evidence to buttress this point,” he stated.

While speaking on the prospects and development of river port authority in Nigeria, the NIWA boss reasoned that well dredged and maintained channels with the required depths would attract boat traffic and serve the public better.
He noted that unfortunately, most river ports in Nigeria were inaccessible and had remained undeveloped due to shallow depths.