Rapid Response: NIWA deploys machines to clear dreaded water hyacinth

By Seun Ibiyemi

National Inland Waterways Authority ( Niwa) deployed its massive swamp devil machines to attack and clear pervasive water Hyacinth vegetation, which has clogged navigable water channels in ebbutte areas of Ikorodu in lagos state.

Presently ongoing, the project, which is a direct and proactive response by the federal water transportation regulatory agency, to calls by boat operators, is strategic to keeping lagos waterways free from such encumbrances and a 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 phenomenal occurrence that impedes boating activities and aggressively disruptive of fishing activities on inland waterways across the country.

Engineer ( Dr) Sarat lara Braimah, lagos Area Manager of niwa, who led the water Hyacinth expedition team, disclosed that niwa has mapped out strategic plans to tackle the menace, adding that a special team of niwa 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.