NIWA Woo Marine Engineers to Ensure Waterways Safety

By DAPO OLAWUNI

The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has said that there are opportunities for more hands in marine engineering who can ensure safety of waterways by fixing the numerous boats plying Nigerian inland waters.

NIWA’s Officer 1 Marine, Engineer K.G Abbah stated this on Friday at an industry function in Apapa Lagos.

Already, our correspondent learnt that there are twenty two marine engineers in NIWA Lagos Area alone.

Eng Abbah who represented the Managing Director of NIWA, Dr. George Moghalu was encouraging youths to take up jobs in marine engineering, adding that anyone that apply right now could automatically be employed.

According to him, whenever NIWA goes on sensitization of boat drivers, there are opportunities for engineers who can be self employed by teaching the drivers on how to fix their engines whenever it develop faults on the waterways.

“We have numerous boats here in Lagos, especially when you are at Mariner Lagos and going to Port Novo which is a nearby country, we have boat transportation that take people there. These boats are so much, they have outboard engines and inboard engines.

“For those who are into marine engineering, we are having challenges whereby we have just few technicians who really comes to fix these problems.
There is job already made for those going into marine engineering.

“If you apply to NIWA today, I am sure that you would be absolved because these opportunities, apart from we going to give sensitization, we have few engineers in NIWA, whereby we have numerous challenges of trying to fix these engines or trying to advise the owners on what to do” Eng Abbah

He also revealed that NIWA is currently employing a private company that would specialize in removal of water hyacinth from the inland waterways.

According to him, the agency has aquired a ship with debris interceptor to facilitate the job.

“Recently, we are employing some private sector operators, we are coming up with a device called water interceptor. What it does is to clean the inland waterways from debris, plastics and so on. Its a ship that has interceptor to collect all of these debris on our waterways”

“It is NIWAs function to remove pollution from our inland waterways including water hyacinth which causes obstruction on the waterways. This also affects the movement of boats and vessels” he said

The NIWA MD representative was speaking on a paper titled “The development of Inland Waterways Transportation as tools for Job Creation for Nigerian Youths through Maritime Sector”