SERAH BRAIMAH
National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has deployed its massive swamp devil machines to attack and clear pervasive water Hyacinth vegetation, which has clogged navigable water channels in the Ebutte area of Ikorodu in Lagos state.
The Authority in a press statement on Thursday stated that the project which is ongoing, is a direct and proactive response by the Federal Water Transportation Regulatory Agency to calls by boat operators.
The statement added that the move is strategic to keeping Lagos waterways free from such encumbrances and a headline effort to assure boat operators and water transportation stakeholders of their safety.
The water Hyacinth weeds rear up their fangs from October to late December every year, a natural phenomenal occurrence that impedes boating activities and aggressively disrupts fishing activities on inland waterways across the country.Engineer (Dr.) Sarat Lara Braimah, Lagos Area Manager of NIWA who led the water Hyacinth expedition team, disclosed that NIWA has mapped out strategic plans to tackle the menace, adding that a special team of NIWA environmental experts will be on the detailed lookout for the mystery weeds to help arrest their impact before they overrun the navigable channels in Lagos.
She appealed to organised boat operators and water users to report any sighting of the weeds to the NIWA Lagos office, calling on stakeholders to be circumspect and obey all extant safety regulations.