A senior lecturer in the department of History and International Relations at the Federal University, Lokoja, Dr Anthony Ali, has urged the federal government to revamp the transportation business on the Lower Niger River to complement other modes of transport in the country.
Speaking at the 2017 annual lecture of the University of Jos Alumni Association, Kogi State chapter held in Lokoja at the weekend, Dr Ali, a guest lecturer maintained that if the Federal Government develops water transport in the lower Niger River, it would serve help in decongesting heavy traffic on the road and minimise the high rate of accidents involving articulated vehicles on Nigerian roads.
The don, whose delivery centred on the topic, “Reposition Transportation Business on the Lower Niger River,” said there was an urgent need for a landward connection to the inland river ports of Lokoja, Onitsha and Warri to decongest the Lagos Sea Ports of Apapa and Tin Can Island.
He noted that reviving transportation on the lower Niger River as it was in the hey days of the Europeans’ water traffic would facilitate the conveyance of bulky goods such as iron and steel products, cement, marble, coal, forest products and petroleum products amongst others.
Dr Ali enjoined the federal and state governments as well as private entrepreneurs to invest on transportation business on the Lower Niger River to boost the domestic economy.
