The activities of the National Inland Water Authority (NIWA) using contractors or agents to collect revenue in Onitsha River have generated tension between NIWA and Sand-miners.
The move by NIWA to use its agents to collect revenue in Onitsha River Niger waterways is being contested by the Sand Miner Association of Anambra state.
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The sand miners said that they are not going to pay any tariff to NIWA through an agent as the agent will use the opportunity to harass their members.
Recently, the NIWA appointed one Negro Nwafor and Sons Limited to collect access fees from watercraft and dredgers on its behalf in Anambra and Delta states.
According to the letter of Introduction/Recommendation signed by the NIWA Area Manager, Onitsha office, Yakubu Anthony, “In furtherance with the implementation of enabling Acts: Cap N47 LFN 2004 establishing National Inland Water Authority Negro Nwafor and Sons Limited has been appointed as its agent for collection of access fees from watercraft and dredgers on its behalf in Anambra state and Delta north. Kindly accord the agent with all necessary support.”
This new development did not go down well with the sand miners, as they said that the agent collecting access fees from all craft plying river in the states is not captured in the NIWA Acts.
They accused NIWA of conniving with some people to inflict pain on them.
The miners said that they pay yearly for the access free for their crafts and wondered why NIWA would come up with an agent to be collecting daily fees which has never happened.
Expressing disappointment, the President-General of the SandMiner Association of Anambra state, Sir Chris Mbaegbu, said that they will resist the new tariff through all legitimate means because it was not captured in NIWA’s Acts.
According to him, over the years, they have been paying all legitimate fees to NIWA and they have never paid daily fee. He said the payment of the daily access fee was uncalled and not acceptable to them unless shown that the minister approved it.
“Our crafts are not classified as dredgers but as river craft. We pay our yearly river access and not daily access fee as and when due,” he said.
He said according to NIWA Act before any fee could be imposed, the Minister must approve of it and this time there was no evidence that the Minister approved the payment.
“Even as the court favoured us, we are not saying we are not going to pay lawful tariffs, but let them tell us under which NIWA Act they decided to employ somebody to harass us in the name of tariff collection,” he said.
Also speaking on the tariff, the chairman of the sand miners, Iyiowa Odekpe Beach, Mr Udoka Oformata said the recent introduction of a daily fee for River craft was uncalled for.
He said NIWA and Negro Nwafor and Sons Limited never talked to them about the new tariff, they just woke up one morning and decided that they can make money from sand miners, and slammed the tariff without notice.
“They just brought the notice to us with final notice warning. We are stakeholders and if they want to introduce any tariff they should consult us,” he said.
According to him, the agent by his words ‘final notice’ means he will force, harras and extort money from members.
“Asking us to pay N4,000 to N5,000 every day means that they want us to fold up our business, and we have over 3000 employers in the organisation. All our crafts are locally fabricated and they are not the kind of dredgers government is talking about in the Acts,” he said.
He appealed to the federal government to come to their aid and stop the plans of harassment by the NIWA by using people who want to use all means to intimidate them in the name of collecting revenue for the government.
Speaking on the Tariffs, the Onitsha River NIWA Area Manager Yakubu Anthony said that the tariffs were legitimately charged and it is according to the NIWA Acts.
“Whatever, we charged, we charged within the NIWA power, according to what the minister approved. We can not operate outside limitation,” he said.
He appealed to those affected to corporate with the agent to avoid any misunderstanding. According to him, people should report any harassment and charges above the approved prices.
He also said that using an agent to collect the tariff did not contravene any law in the country.
“We entered into an agreement for the agent to collect the revenue for us and take his own. We give a target of the expected revenue and when he collects them he takes his own. If there is any complaint with the manner they collect the money, people should feel free to approach us for redress,” he said.
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