The Federal Ministry of Transportation, the Nigerian Navy, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), and the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) have all taken strategic action to improve water transportation in Nigeria by charting the Lower River Niger. To this purpose, Afreximbank has donated $350,000 to help Nigeria’s interior waterways realize their enormous potential for transportation.
The maps include details on the river channel’s restricted and navigable portions and act as a starting point for creating a fully developed navigable channel. The International Centre for Electronic Navigational Charts accepted the charting since it complied with IHO requirements and covered a distance of 456 km from Jamata, Lokoja to Burutu.
Nonetheless, additional tasks include dredging and removal of identified wrecks are still expected to be done on the channel, navigational activities can commence with the use of the Charts which Mariners can obtain from the International Centre for Electronic Navigational Charts either in hard copy or electronic form.