The Dredgers Association of Nigeria (DAN) has said that the ultimatum given to them by the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) will have a great effect not only on members of the association, but also on government.
This is coming about seven days after NIWA gave the association ultimatum to vacate the dredging site in Lagos.
The association raised the alarm during a chat with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos.
According to the General Secretary of the association, Mr. Richard Ntan, the cost implication of the ultimatum is what nobody can count.
‘’Nobody can count the quantity of sand it will affect both the government and the association. Government will lose revenue and dredgers will lose businesses and money", he warned.
He also said that the ultimatum will pose a big challenge to the area as jobs will be taken out of many people.
"Above all, we are looking at the aspect of making sure that jobs are not lost and security is maintained, because the moment people are thrown into unemployment, a lot of bad things will begin to come up"
He also defined NIWA as the regulators, adding that the association will approach NIWA to let them know that they are partners in progress.
"We will obey what the law says, they are our regulators and so we will obey them. At the same time we will approach them so that they will know that we are partners in progress. We will approach them and try to plead with them to allow us right our wrongs if at all we have done anything that is against their guidelines that is all.
They (NIWA) stated their guidelines and stakeholders didn't follow some of their guidelines in terms of keeping the environment clean, we have offended them. But that does not mean we have to be thrown away from our own business. People make mistake there is oils spill everywhere in the South-South, they didn't shut down oil industry", he argued.
He also promised that the association will play by the guidelines if given a second chance.
He also disclosed that the association has started cleaning the affected areas in Ado road adding that proper sensitization has been carried out on their members.
"They have given us some guidelines to follow and we will make sure that we follow the guidelines and we will get back to them to know how we can avoid total shutdown. We are expected to shut down next week Wednesday. We have been talking with NIWA to see what we can do. As I speak with you right now, cleaning is going on at Ado road; cleaning of the environment is going on there now in the area where they are planning to shut down. Our member have been well sensitized and they are ready and willing to comply", he promised.
"We are talking with the community, government and everybody that is involved. We strongly believe that at the end of the day things will be resolved. We have asked stakeholders to comply with the government. If anybody is having outstanding they should go and settle with the government. Pay to the government what is due for them, pay their royalties, right of way and all that because you can't be in this business without paying your royalty, it doesn't work that way", he added.
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