NAN-AE-3
Vessels
By Chidinma Agu
Lagos, March 2, 2017 (NAN) The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) on Thursday advised the Federal Government not to allow the plot of certain ship-owners to turn Nigeria’s territorial waters into a dumping ground for damaged vessels.
Mr Ede Dafinone, Chairman, the National Executive Council of NCF, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that ship-owners who dumped their vessels in Nigeria’s territorial waters had contributed to the coastal erosion of the country’s shorelines.
According to him, if the government allows coastal erosion of our shorelines to go unchecked, it can reduce the shorelines by up to 10 metres every year.
“This will continue until it eats far into the land and cause untold damage to property along the axis; just like what is happening at the Lekki Beach at present.
“Majority of the owners of ocean-going vessels are using Nigerian territorial waters as dumping ground for their vessels.
“And when the vessels drift along the coastal areas they cause massive erosion of the shorelines.
“Nigeria’s coastal shorelines are dotted with such vessels which ought to have been removed.
“Those vessels have owners and the government should charge them fees for the proper disposal of their vessels; they should not use Nigeria as a dumping ground for them,’’ he said.
Dafinone said that it was not an easy task when NCF had to intervene some years ago to remove one of such vessels, which had caused huge shoreline erosion at the Lekki Beach.
“Although we mobilised stakeholders for the job, the Foundation could not remove the vessel completely.
“But what we succeeded in removing was just sufficient to bring the tidal impact away from damaging the shoreline, and the shoreline was restored then,’’ he said.
Dafinone likened the incident to a situation where someone was allowed to park or dump an old car on the road and then walk away, only for another person to remove it for him.
He, therefore, stressed the need for the government not to allow owners of ocean-going vessels to dump them in the nation’s territorial waters and simply walk away without taking due responsibility for them.
Dafinone said that laws, penalties and fines should be put in place to curb such actions and safeguard Nigeria’s shorelines from coastal erosion.
NAN reports that the Lekki Beach is fast becoming a deserted area, as the massive coastal erosion of the shoreline is fast pushing the beach inwards.
The Lekki Beach scenario is somewhat becoming akin to the situation at the Lagos Bar Beach. (NAN)
ACA/FLP/OOK
===========
Edited by Folorunso Poroye and Dayo Komolafe