The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) , Kaduna Area Office, on Monday stated that it would phase out the use of wooden boats in the state in the next two years.
The Area Manager, Isa Aliyu, made the disclosure on Monday during a courtesy visit to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Kaduna Zonal Office.
Second the left, Bashir Rabe-Mani, Zonal Manager,NAN Kaduna Zone, Isah Aliyu, Area Manager NIWA Kaduna
He explained that the authority was meeting with the operators of boats in the state to see how they can form an association to ease the phasing out of the wooden boats.
“Most of the accidents recorded on our waterways are with the wooden boats or canoes; that’s why we will be facilitating how these operators can acquire speed boats.
“Currently, we have four speed boats in our office which we rent out to the operators, we plan to link them with organisations or companies that will provide these boats, ” he said.
Aliyu explained that NIWA has been sensitising the people in areas along river Kaduna on the need to use life jackets and to avoid overloading the boats.
Aliyu said that the authority would collaborate with NAN to further sensitise the public on safety measures to take while riding in the waters.
He urged boat operators to get rid of wooden boats that were older than five years and use the boats during the day to avoid accidents.
The area manager said that the guidelines were part of the ‘Transportation Regulation Code 2023’, adding that offenders of the regulations would be fined or taken to court for prosecution.
According to him, passengers have the duty to leave a boat once an operator doesn’t provide life jackets and can also demand the operators to stop speeding.
He urged the residents to stop building on “the right of way”, which is 100 meters perpendicular away from the water to avoid flooding and the destruction of property.
Responding, the Zonal Manager, Bashir Rabe-Mani assured the NIWA team of NAN ‘s support in ensuring that the activities and mandate of the authority were disseminated to the public.
He added that NAN was the leading content provider in the country that serves as a news hub to all the media organisations in the country.
