The setting at the just concluded national inland waterways authority conference and exhibition (NIWA ICE) was perfect and deliberately driven to tell a true life story. For many years, Nigeria’s players and investors on our nascent waterway environment were not known. There was no benchmark expectation neither was there any platform of encouragement to anchor survival and job creation. Where there were jetties, these platforms were either built to just position political correctness or abandoned to rot.
That was yesterdays’ picture of Nigeria’s waterway log process until Boss Gida Mustapha happened on the scene a year ago. Like a hurricane, Boss Mustapha, the Managing Director of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) moved swiftly to rebrand and register a new beginning for this apex government regulative body on water transportation.
His mission at NIWA was clearly defined and as a general or ship captain, Boss Mustapha has the Nigeria waterways clearly mapped out with a strategic foresight to remould and change the work ethics of all categories of NIWA workers all over the federation.
Mustapha lived by example and worked to the bones to bring about a refreshing new team for NIWA. He did not sack any worker but those who can’t cope with his pace carefully adjusted or gave notice of early retirement.
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From Lokoja to Onitsha, Oguta to Baro, Niger state, feverish activities to get these river ports fully operational once again became a new sing song. Boss Mustapha maybe a politician and occupies a political office, his patriotic zeal to rewrite the history of NIWA and make the organization a global reference point and example of a profitable entity drives the narrative of the moment.
Wail for this! In no distance future, passenger ferries trotting across our vast waterways to encourage tourism and discovery of new waterfront towns and village resorts forms part of Boss Mustapha additional and doable agenda at NIWA. To this end, NIWA has started a new realignment and re-engagement with the private sector beginning with operators and investors in Lagos.
The deal is on and expressions of interest keeps pouring in everyday by interested operators, some who wish to operate passenger aircrafts (Hovercraft) with the waterways as runway.
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Today, Boss Mustapha is at the national assembly to convince the law makers to back his dream to reform and transform Nigeria’s 932 nautical miles coastline into a profitable economic kingdom. The feelers from the bowels of the national assembly present a cheering expectation that may herald a new Nigeria through the water economy.
From fisheries, haulage, tourism resorts, waterfront properties and new town development to aviation runways on water, the jobs and revenue templates may give our brothers on the west coast of Africa and the littoral states a fresh hold and hope of a cash cow sector to will better the fortunes of our depressed people.
On Tuesday, Boss Mustapha bought and brought “ICE” on the cake of NIWA through a strategic conference and exhibition forum to possibly showcase the reality of a new dawn for water transport business in Nigeria. If the conference fallout and launch of NIWA strategic water vessels to deal with debris and vegetation clogs on water ways gladdened the hearts of participants, the exhibition hall revealed the determination of the upcoming and emerging service providers to join NIWA’s revolution lead Boss Mustapha.
The exhibition and conference declared open my Minister of Transportation, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi and attended by top maritime players and regulators amply captures the dream of Boss Mustapha to give Nigeria and not himself a birthday gift worthy of a celebration and new narratives for this government on how best to recreate and bring back to life, hope nearly lost in web of national uncertainty and poor management of government businesses in the past.
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NIWA ICE 2017, has come and gone but the race for tomorrow’s dream for NIWA has just began and Boss Mustapha has sufficiently shown and proven that life has returned to once moribund government waterway regulatory agency.
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