The federal government says it is working on an agreement to secure technology from South Africa for monitoring and securing the nation’s Inland waterways.
Managing Director of the Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), George Moghalu, said this at the Ministerial Media Briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said, with the technology, the authority can monitor the movement of vessels anywhere in the waterways.
Moghalu pointed out that the South African firm whose name he did not reveal, visited NIWA and saw firsthand the challenges faced in their effort to provide security in Nigeria’s waterways.
George Moghalu says the company has given strong assurances that they have the required technology to solve the challenge on Nigeria’s water ways.
Moghalu said: “We visited them and they visited us and we now presented our challenge because we want to be in a position to monitor all our waterways and they have the technology.”
“There is a technology they are going to deploy so that I will be in the control room in Lokoja and be able to monitor all the vessels that operate in our waterways,” he said.
He revealed that despite talks of insecurity, survey has commenced on Lake Chad to open it up as an inland water transportation hub to access other African countries.
According to him, the fact that the survey is ongoing is an indication that insecurity prevailing in the region has been sufficiently addressed.
He said NIWA is working in collaboration with the Nigeria Navy for the project.
