The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has said that contrary to some media reports, there was no time the Senate queried it over N800 million security vote when it appeared before the Senate last Friday to defend its 2018 budget proposal. “The distinguished senators of the Marine Transport Committee in the Senate of the National Assembly were referring to the Council for Regulation of Freight Forwarding of Nigeria (CRFFN) and not National Inland Waterways Authority ( NIWA) as erroneously reported. “The truth in respect of the story can be confirmed from the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Marine Transport, Senator Sani Yerima and the video tape of the proceedings can also be made available by the Clerk of the committee of Marine Transport of the Senate. Secondly, in the entire budget defence of NiWA, there was no single item that captured the issue of security vote and the Acting Managing Director of NiWA did not make any comment regarding security issues as reported in some quarters. NIWA did not ask for any security vote in the 2018 budget proposal.

Source: Nigerian Tribune April 19, 2018 02:02 UTC