The President of the Nigerian Association of Master Mariners (NAMM), Captain Tajudeen Alao has lauded the plan by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to commence waterways transportation policy for its workers, stating that such effort will further improve inland waterways regulation on Nigeria’s brown waters.
Recall that the Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh in a post on social media recently, said that a deliberate policy of NIMASA staff commuting to work via water transport will soon be in effect.
Speaking exclusively with the Nigerian Tribune on the effect of this on inland waterways, the National President of NAMM, Captain Tajudeen Alao said that such efforts will lead to intelligence gathering on Nigeria’s inland waterways for NIMASA.
According to the NAMM National President who also doubles as a member of the Governing Board of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), “It is a welcome development that NIMASA want to now make sure its workers commute to work via inland waterways.
“Aside the fact that it will save the workers the stress that they normally go through every day when they commute to work through different traffic situations on our roads, it will also serve as a medium of gathering Intelligence for NIMASA, which will then be transferred to the necessary quarters for appropriate action.
“There is no way NIMASA workers will be on the waterways and see passenger boats overloaded, and not inform their office. There is no way NIMASA workers will be on the waterways and see other passengers plying the waterways without wearing Life Jackets, and not report same to their office.
“The fact that NIMASA workers, who preaches the Blue Economy mantra, will be on the waterways from Mondays to Fridays will help further deepen waterways regulation because whatever they see, will be reported to their office, who in turn will pass such information to the necessary agency in-charge of the inland waterways regulation. So, it’s a win-win situation for NIMASA and NIWA. It will help enforce more discipline on our brown waters.”
