NIWA Lagos office record over N1bn revenue

The governing board of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) yesterday revealed that its Lagos office alone generated the sum of one billion in revenue remited  into the federation account in 2022.

Addressing newsmen after an on-the-spot inspection tour of NIWA’s Lagos office facilities, the Chairman of the NIWA Governing Board, Senator Binta Masi-Garba said that the Lagos Office of the agency is due for a facelift of facilities and amenities.

The board promised to look into the working conditions of staff of the authority in the Lagos office as a way to say thank you for the achievement.

Senator Masi-Garba said: ““In our meeting with the workers, they told us about the many challenges that they would like us to help them fix. Even the office that we sat in is becoming too small for them. If we want to continue to get the best from these workers, we need to attend to their needs.

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“They raised issues around more operational vehicles, patrol boats, provision of Skip-Way for vessel repair, generators amongst other things. The joy that I have is that NIWA is now autonomous. They can now raise revenue to take care of themselves and also give a fraction into the federal government coffers.

“Whatever they need, they should prioritise their needs and the MD will look into them. From N600 million revenue, they have exceeded the N1 billion mark in Lagos. We are now trying to see whether we can go into the N2billion range”

Also speaking during the tour, the NIWA MD, Dr. George Moghalu explained that the agency will grow stronger after its departure from the federal government Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS).

“If we want to starve, then we will starve. If we want to get our salaries, then we’ll work harder to get our salaries. I think we have taken a strong position and before we took that position, we agreed amongst ourselves, management and staff that this is the time to move forward,” he added.