The National Inland Waterways Authority ( NIWA) has deployed its massive swamp devil machines to attack and clear pervasive water Hyacinth vegetation has clogged navigable water channels in ebbutte areas of Ikorodu in Lagos state,
The ongoing project, the agency said is a direct and proactive response by the federal water transportation regulator to calls by boat operators that is strategic to keeping Lagos waterways free from such encumbrances.
NIWA Lagos Area Manager, Engineer Sarat Braimah said the exercise headline efforts to assure boat operators and water transportation stakeholders of their safety.
“The water Hyacinth weeds rear up its fangs from October to late December, every year, a natural phenomenon that impedes boating activities and aggressively disrupts fishing activities on inland waterways across the country.”
She disclosed that NIWA has mapped out strategic plans to tackle the menace, adding that a special team of its environmental experts will be on detailed look out for the mystery weeds to help arrest their impact before they could overrun the navigable channels in Lagos.
She appealed to organised boat operators and water users to report any sighting of the weeds to the NIWA Lagos office, calling on stakeholders to be circumspect and obey all extant safety regulations.