Nigeria's NIWA to partner Bangladesh over development of inland waterways

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National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and the Republic of Bangladesh have agreed to collaborate to enhance activities in the waterways of Nigeria and Bangladesh.

Dr George Moghalu, the Managing Director of NIWA said this when the Ambassador of Bangladesh to Nigeria, Masudur Rahman, led a delegation to visit him in Abuja, recently.

“So there’s quite a lot we are going to learn from you. We are going to share ideas.

“We are going to see how wherever you have gained so much mileage, we will try to look at it and see how we can adapt it for our own successes.

“We know both Bangladesh and Nigeria are all developing countries. So there is nothing wrong with our learning from each other and our sharing of ideas. There are also some areas where we have strength, which Bangladesh will also learn. So, I want to assure you that we (NIWA) accept the invitation.

“We are going to work out the modalities, we are going to visit, we are going to engage our counterparts in Bangladesh so that we can gain from their experience.

“In areas where they have achieved stronger mileage, we copy from them, there is nothing wrong with that so long as it will help us in developing our economy.

“So I feel honoured, the management of NIWA feels honoured that you have come here today to educate us and share ideas with us, to let us know what is happening in Bangladesh and to what extent we can leverage on it to develop our own country,” Moghalu said.

The NIWA boss reiterated that the maritime sector had enormous potential that could contribute greatly to the development of the country’s economy and thus should not be ignored.

According to him, if the waterway is developed in the way it should, it will trigger growth in the GDP of the country.

Moghalu noted that the authority would be glad to also collaborate in the areas of dredging and boat building as it would help develop capacity.

Earlier, the Bangladesh Ambassador said both countries have similarities and could engage in versatile areas of cooperation from food security, agriculture, digital technologies, textile, health, among others.

According to Rahman, Bangladesh has about 800 rivers with 52 international rivers from India, China, Nepal, with a huge delta.

He said one of the things the country had done was to devise means of turning its challenges due to excess water into opportunities.

He said, “I have seen in the south of Nigeria that you have more rivers and these rivers can be a huge source of marine products that can give huge resources and create lots of job opportunities if it can be organised.

“The rivers can also act as connectivity between Nigeria and different regions that have a huge generation of revenue and employment as well.”