How River Niger Is Unearthing Its Riches

Very little difference is being noticed in the economic activities going on in the north end of River Niger, especially from Baro in Niger State to Ajaokuta in Kogi State. Tens of local fishermen are seen paddling canoes and catching fish in commercial quantities since the dredging of the river. However, full scale utilization of […]

Very little difference is being noticed in the economic activities going on in the north end of River Niger, especially from Baro in Niger State to Ajaokuta in Kogi State. Tens of local fishermen are seen paddling canoes and catching fish in commercial quantities since the dredging of the river. However, full scale utilization of the dredged channels of the river has since commenced, from Onitsha in Anambra State to Warri in Delta State.

Between 16 and 19 barges are conveying crude oil from oil rigs around the river bank to oil pumping facilities. This was noticed daily from the Bifurcation to an Agip oil facility at Aseomoku in Delta State, where the product is being pumped through pipes to their dumps. Assorted barges with different capacities were seen transporting crude oil to the facility through the dredged channels of the river.

Efforts to obtain comments from Agip oil offices in Warri and Port-Harcourt on this were not successful. But an official of the company said the company had been having difficulty moving crude oil from the rigs to its dump after the massive destruction of oil pipelines and other oil facilities by erring youths in the Niger Delta region. But the situation changed since the dredging of River Niger.

“Those barges you saw contained large quantities of oil each. The smallest should be carrying at least 600 metric tons, which translated to about 20 trucks load each. In a day we receive and pump 16 to 22 of them. You can imagine 20 trucks multiplied by 19 moving crude oil on our road daily. Who else will be able to use that road? So, when the pipelines were vandalized, we started moving the crude through the river, even before it was dredged. But then we could not move that number and the few we were moving was only possible when the water level was very high.

“The movement of the barges in that number you saw was only made possible after the dredging. We can now move all year round. You should also note that even though the facility you saw at Aseomoku where the oil is being pumped from the barges through the pipes belong to Agip, not all the barges and the oil they carry belong to Agip. Other oil companies are using the Agip facility to also pump their oil. You might have noticed a barge wreck that ran under ground and was abandoned after Aseomoku when going to the Bifurcation that happened before the dredging.

In addition to the barges operating on that axis, commercial flying boats conveying passengers were also seen operating using local jetties belonging to communities along the river bank. Also, as ports of embarkation and disembarkation awarded by the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) are still ongoing. It is not, however, clear if the communities charge the boat operators for using the jetties.

Unlike the massive fishing activities going on in the River Niger by fishermen and women along Idah in Kogi State and Baro in Niger State, there was very little fishing activity going on at the river from Onitsha to Patani in Delta State. A speed boat operator near Patani said the high level water in that end of the river is not good for fishing.

Amos Umukoro told this reporter that local nets and instruments that cannot be used for fishing in large water like is being used by most of the fishermen in the area. According to him, “That is why you don’t see them fishing in the river. But because the river has so many inlets, side ponds and waterloos that contain most of the fish, the people fish there. You know, even the fish is more comfortable living in those places rather than the main river.

“I lived in Abuja for three weeks during the election period. The fish you find here is nicer than the ones you find in Abuja. Those in Abuja are grown in ponds. But the fish here tastes better, cheaper and more nutritious. Though they have started smoking fish here, they lack large industrial preserving acquirements for fish like cold room and ice trucks for the transportation of fish. With that, they can transport the edible fish for sale to any part of the country.

“The dredging of the channels has increased navigation in the river, thereby forcing the fish to move to adjoining ponds and inlets to avoid the blades of the ferries and boats. Farmers are also using the river now to freely move their crops to river bank markets. From Patani, if you are going to Indonie in Rivers State by road you have to pass through Port Harcourt. It takes you about three hours by road, if there is no hold-up. But through the river, Indonie by speed boat is 30 minutes.

“Before the dredging of the river, we were using the natural channel mainly in the rainy season, to transport goods in barges. The speed boats had no problem. Anytime we get to where there is sand we paddle it with oars. Since the first dredging we have been sailing through freely throughout the year. So, many people have come to ask us if the river is ready to contain boats now and we always tell them yes. They want to bring their boats to carry goods.

Indonie is the major town in Rivers State with a big market along the river Niger. The town sitting just by the bank of the River Niger has a popular market, patronized by people from all parts of the state and adjoining communities. One of the major commodities that attracts wide patronage in the market is yam, which come from Nasarawa and Benue States. The Indonie yam market is believed to be supplying all the riverside communities including Port-Harcourt.

Efforts to reach the yam dealers supplying Indonie yam traders with yam were not successful they were said to have travelled to the north to bring the yam. However, Malam Audu alias Baba Yam is one of the major yam traders at the market. He confirmed that the yam sold at the market is transported to as far as Bayelsa State.

“Up to about three years ago, we were being supplied yam in this market by some yam merchants from Benue and Nasarawa States. They were bringing the yams in three trailers and sometimes four trailers. Any time there is delay in their arrival, you see people who come here from far places to buy the yam looking for accommodation, awaiting their arrival. But since after the dredging of the river, they are now bringing the yams in large boat. One largest boat is about six to seven trailers, depending on how they arrange the yams.

“I have not been seeing those boys coming from Benue state with yams for a very long time now. But the ones coming from Nasarawa left just yesterday and it will take them about three weeks to return with another consignment. Whenever the boat carrying yams arrive the river bank here you see potential buyers trooping in to buy as many tubers of the yams as they can.

“Those who cannot afford to buy a consignment will then buy in pieces from major traders. All the major traders who buy consignments have their signs and the colour of ink they use to mark the yams they want to buy. When the boat arrives, the loaders will off-load the yam arranging them in consignments. The boys who brought the yams will move to where they will sleep. Their appointed agent will supervise the sales. When a major dealer sees a consignments that he wants to buy, he will use his marker to mark most of the yam boldly with his sign meaning that is his.

“In most cases the major dealers do not even need money to buy and sell yam in the market. When you indicate the consignments you want to buy, some other buyers will come and buy the yams from you and pay cash. You then remove your gains and pay the agent for the consignments you took. I heard the boys saying they are planning to buy another boat to make it two so that they can meet up with the market demand. The yam supply here is grossly inadequate,” he said.

Speaking to this reporter on phone, one of the youths supplying the yams, Ezekiel Bauta said they sail through the yet to be dredged River Benue from where they join River Niger and sail to Indonie. He added that, “Our problem is sailing through the River Benue. It is not easy at all. We follow natural channel. There is no time we pass that river without running under ground because the river is yet to be dredged. The moment we join the River Niger at the confluence point, the rest is smooth sail. It takes us about 8 days in the Benue River because we moveat slow speed but it takes two days at the River Niger, which is even longer.

“You cannot even compare using the river to using the road. The river is safer, freer and cheaper. Through the river you avoid the hold-ups, the multiple roadblocks by police and revenue collectors and the usual road accidents. Rather than load six trailers and line them up to Indonie by road, we now load everything in one boat and enter the river. The amount we pay on one trailer and what we pay police and revenue checkpoints when travelling by road is enough to fuel our boat and feed. The rest is (gain) to us,” he said.

The major activity going on now in the River Niger around Onitsha in Anambra State is the increase in dredging of sharp sand by local dredgers for use in building structures. Though the activity started long before the dredging of the river, it increased drastically following the dredging of the channels which provided the local dredgers easier access to the river and provided better sand for excavation.

Berth Okorie is an operator of Oloma Dredgers, near the Onitsha head Bridge. He said his dredger is excavating building sand from the river, pumping it through a pipe to the bank of the river where tippers are manually loaded by labourers for delivery to construction sites. He said the local dredging and excavation of sand for construction increased at the Onitsha end of the river after the capital dredging by NIWA.

“This sand we are excavating is being supplied to as far as Awka. It is our only work here. All these dredgers you see here, those operating them, those collecting the sand and loading them over there have no other job than this. This is how we feed and train our children,” he said.

Engineer Okadike Mike told Sunday Trust that the dredging of the river is just one step towards making it viable. According to him, “Beyond the dredging, government should invest heavily by buying barges for carrying goods and ferries for conveying passengers. Build jetties and river ports at strategic places along the river. Until government invests physically by buying boats, barges and ferries, no private individual would like to invest there.

“Another problem of that river that requires urgent attention is the issue of erosion. When you visit the full length of the river, you will discover that so many communities and farmlands are being threatened by erosion. It is worse whenever there is mass movement on the river. If government can take care of those things, the river will be a major source of revenue for both the government and the public,” he said.

The Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr Olusegun Aganga, said the government’s mass transit programme is not limited to the provision of buses alone as ferries and trains will also be provided. He has said, “The mass transit programme was a programme that was launched by Mr President in January and the whole idea is for us to have a robust sustainable mass transit programme in the country. It is not just about fuel subsidy; it is about having the right mass transit programme for the whole country.

“The idea is that it is going to cover rail, ferries and also bus mass transit but we are starting with the buses mass transit first. So what we have done is that the president set up a committee, which is chaired by the vice president and included state governments. That committee set up a technical implementation committee which is chaired by myself and includes ministers of transport, labour, finance, transporters and manufacturers. That technical committee has been meeting and has produced a roadmap identifying the roles of the state, the Federal Government, and private sector and also the issue of financing from manufacturers’ point of view.”

The chief executive officers of two of the four companies that are handling the dredging of the river Niger, Mr Lloyds Nwankwo of Williams Lloyds Nigeria Limited and Sir Isaac Chucks of Fung Tai Nigeria Limited, said in different interviews that they were committed to investing massively in the river transport business.

Sir Chucks said his company will buy boats, ferries and barges to start commercial operation due to the viability of the business.

“River Niger is dredged. What we are talking about now is maintenance and utilization. It should be advertised now so that people will know that from Warri to Baro a boat or barge carrying large quantity of goods can make it under some hours. Water transportation is the cheapest and safest means of transportation in the country.”

Mr Lloyds Nwankwo said he had earlier arranged with some of his foreign business associates willing to bring in barges and ferries to operate commercial transportation in the river. He said the security challenges in the country scared them away but that his own company is planning to buy ferries and use them for commercial purposes in the river.

On the river bank protection, the Managing Director of NIWA, Architect Ahmed Aminu Yar’adua, said his agency has started providing security at some selected places across the river. He said government has recently awarded contract for the shore protection and dredging reclamation work at selected sites along the River Niger.

He said the areas to be covered by the protection project include Kelebe and Okumi in Kogi State, Ilushi in Edo State, Aseomukei in Rivers State, Asaba and Patani in Delta State. He said details of the project expected to be completed in eight months include shoreline protection, stabilization and drainage works, earth-moving and filling work among others.

He said NIWA was also reaching out to oil majors, companies and private individuals to invest in the river transport. He noted the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and any of its subsidiaries can establish tank farms at Lokoja or Baro and be moving petroleum products meant for northern states with barges through the river to Lokoja, off-load the products and pump oil through pipes to Kaduna refinery for onward distribution to other depots.

He said the agency is also reaching out to companies like Dangote Group to start using the river for the distribution of their products. Other major transporters and businessmen like the Governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi were being persuaded to invest in water transport business. He said the construction of river ports and jetties at strategic places such as Baro in Niger State, Jamata in Kogi, Oguta in Imo and Okrika in Rivers States were ongoing.