NIWA MD frowns against indolence, sabotage to revenue drive

The Managing Director (MD), National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) , Mr Bola Oyebamiji on Friday warned staff against indolence and any act of sabotage to the revenue drive of the organisation.

The NIWA Boss handed out the warning in Lokoja, the headquarters of the organisation during the 2025 2-Day Management Retreat.

He said that the warning became necessary in view of the fact that generated revenue by the Area Offices in 2024 was optimally poor .

The MD added that the management chose to continue to offer the big carrot rather than the stick, “basically to offer equal opportunity to every senior officer to prove him/herself.”

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“Unfortunately, the results from this experiment were not encouraging. Consequently, the Management is left with no choice, going forward, but to wield the big stick to command improve performance.

“For instance, it is unfortunate that many of the Area Offices didn’t perform optimally revenue-wise. In a recent Audit Report, many Area Offices were indicted for failure to act professionally on matters affecting their jurisdictions.

“Again, a situation where some Area Offices will record as low as One Million Naira and Two Million Naira as revenue for a whole year is simply unacceptable, ” he said.

He said further that the organisation is expected to remit a substantial part of its receipt from the Port Development Levy(PDL) in addition to the 50 per cent of its revenue deducted at source.

“Many of our Area Managers failed to cooperate with the debt recovery consultant appointed sometime in 2024 to help recover all outstanding monies owed to the agency.”

“Regrettably, in many cases, the supposed debtors were simply untraceable and where available, figures were grossly inconsistent.

“This shameful negative attitude is simply unacceptable and will no longer be tolerated, he said .

He stressed that the 2025 retreat is meant to provide an avenue to all for a broader review of our performance in 2024.

According to him , in 2025, new performance parameters have been added to organization ‘s performance indicators in line with the charge of President Bola Tinubu, to the Honourable Minister, Gboyega Oyetola.

In their good will messages, Mr Suleiman Danjuma, Chairman, Senior Staff Union, NIWA and Zakari Idris, Chairman, Maritime Workers Union.Zakari Idris, pledged to up their games in the area of performance and revenue drive.

The duo acknowledged the concerns of the MD and the entire NIWA management team towards the welfare of the staff and their contributions to economic development of the country.