Godwin ORITSE

THE House of Representative Committee on Marine Transport has warned contractors handling the lower River Niger dredging to stick to the contract agreement and deliver as at when due.

Speaking to newsmen during a tour of the river, House Committee Chairman Honourable, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi said that the Nigerian maritime industry has to move to the next level and urged the contractors to work within the stipulated time in the agreement.

Ugwuanyi stated that because of the importance of the river to the Eastern part of the country, all hands must be on deck to ensure completion of the river.“The Onitsha river port is very strategic to South Eastern business”.Already, the Onitsha river port has fully rehabilitated waiting to be commissioned and concessioned.

Speaking in a similar vein, a member of the Committee, Honourable Ibrahim Mohammed Ebo said that any contractor found wanting with regards to the dredging of the River Niger will dealt with according to the law.

Ebo who raised the motion on the floor of the House of Representative that more than two years after the contract was awarded no significant progress has been done and frowned at the fact the six months to the expiration of the contract, maintenance dredging has not started.

Niger Bridge

His words “Two years after the time line for the completion of the dredging of the River Niger, the River Niger has not been completely dredged.“You should understand that dredging encompasses two aspects, one is the capital dredging and the maintenance dredging.

“What we have seen so far is what you have seen because we came together, some of the dredging is properly done, while some part are not well done but the job is complete yet as we have been because they are still working on the maintenance dredging, as soon as we are told that the maintenance dredging is okay we will be able to certify it okay.

For now you cannot even move too freely particularly when you get to lot five (5) from Jimeta to Baro is still very okay but the last time we came from Baro it was terrible and, so we find it difficult to understand exactly whether maintenance dredging is going on or not.

“As we were coming, you could also see that we could not see a single dredging machine doing any maintenance dredging, maintenance is supposed to be a continuous thing for two years and government has provided some money running into billions of naira for that purpose”.

The controversial N39billion River Niger dredging has raised so much dust that, one would think that no work has been done on the very important river.

A visit to the river from Lokoja in Kogi State to Patani, Delta State, showed that more than 90% of the river has been dredged as oil firms have commenced the movement of crude from the rigs to terminals by barges.

The tour of the river was initiated by the motion raised on the floor of the House of Representatives by Honourable Ibrahim Ebo, who said that no work has been done on the river.

Besides the movement of crude, commercial boats commuters have started moving back and forth the river just as fishing activities have also increased due to the deepened channels.