- Board member, National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Dr. Ndidi Ozegbe (second left), Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer, Bola Oyebamiji (third left), Board Chairman, Musa Adar, and other members after the new board’s inauguration
By Anthony Nwachukwu
Members of the new Board of Directors of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has assured of their commitment to assisting the agency’s management and the federal government improve its operations and efficiency towards achieving set targets.
Speaking on behalf of others after their inauguration, the NIWA Board Chairman, Musa Adar, said they would partner well-meaning stakeholders to create and bequeath a better organisation than it currently is, according to the Assistant General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Suleiman Makama.
Adar assured full commitment to deploying his “time and resources towards the attainment of the authority’s vision to establish and sustain a first-class organisation managed professionally and responsibly, one that is flexible and adaptable to the needs of Nigerians and recognised and respected locally and internationally.”
Counting himself and others privileged to have been appointed into the NIWA board, Adar said their inauguration marked the beginning of another phase in the history of the organisation.
He further commended the past board and management team for being visionary and “working tirelessly with enthusiasm, inspiration and creativity to achieve the noble objectives for which the authority was set-up, particularly on infrastructural development of the inland waterways and the welfare of the staff.”
Earlier, the NIWA Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer, Bola Oyebamiji, welcomed the new board, saying that he looked forward to working with them to drive the agency’s growth and success.
Reflecting on the agency’s current state and future prospects, Oyebamiji said NIWA has made significant progress and achievements, such as increasing the number of goods and passengers on the inland waterways, and enhancing safety on the inland waterways by ensuring processing and gazetting the Water Transportation Code.
He listed the others to include the deployment of more water marshals to man loading and off-loading points across the country, conducting waterways safety sensitisation programmes in over 12 states, and the distribution of about 6,000 standard lifejackets.
These, he said, were beside the agency’s annual safety campaigns across jetties and watersides through its operational bases and by enhancing collaboration with state governments, including Bayelsa, Niger, Kwara, Sokoto and Lagos.
The other members of the board include Hussaini Shettima, Jeminiwa Charles, Dr. Ndidi Ozegbe, Professor Sadiq Abubakar, Kunle Olugbemiro, Capt. Tajudeen Alao, Dele Oye, Capt. Jerome Andwunwe, Hoplyn Euore, and Naziru Biyankare as secretary.
