The Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh, has lamented that resources worth billions of Naira lie untapped, wasting under Nigeria’s 10.5km inland waterways.
Jamoh said all the resources found in the seas also occur in the rivers, noting that commercial quantity of gold and copper abound in the rivers.
He said the rivers could be dredged for transportation, adding that building up infrastructure around the rivers could open up billions of dollars worth of wealth from tourism, from the mineral resources, from fish, water animals and other resources under the river.
He said these could build economy around the rivers and create lots of job opportunities and wealth.
Speaking in an interaction with select journalists in Kaduna at his residence, after his daughter’s wedding ceremony, which was attended by several top dignitaries from all over the country, Jamoh said the North is lagging behind in maritime resources, adding that there is need to constantly draw attention of all Nigerians, especially those in areas presumed as landlocked, that treasure remains untapped in the various rivers.
“Majority of people do believe that since we don’t have a sea in the North, we don’t have maritime but that is not correct. If you go to Egypt, it is artificial lake they use. You see this River Kaduna, it’s a river. If we dredge it and make a better use of it, it is as good as sea. Whatever resources you can have in our sea, you can have it there. The maritime asset you can have in our sea, you have it here.
“So, I begin to wonder why all these years, we never try to look at the River Kaduna beyond what the River Kaduna should provide. We should be able to see the presence of a lot of things in River Kaduna across that line. The water transportation in the North, using the River Kaduna can be utilised for the inhabitants that can use canoe around that area.
“Also, the issue of infrastructure, the River Kaduna boundary, if you can develop infrastructure, connecting roads that can connect to different villages, you have roads that can get to the River Kaduna, along the sides you can have hospitality industries. You can imagine the kind of economy, the level of employment that you can generate, people would come and build tourism industry around that line.
“You see underneath the River Kaduna, there are a lot of things including gold. It’s a matter of conducting the research. There are a lot of things that we are using to produce medicine for hypertension, diabetes, such things used to come under water, it doesn’t mean we have to be at sea to get them, the same water that harbours such things at sea, we can have the same things in inland waterways.
“Anytime I drive past River Kaduna, I say to myself, billions of dollars resources are flowing away,” the NIMASA DG said.
