Boat operators in Rivers State have called on the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and other relevant bodies to clean up the rivers across the state of plastic wastes.
They said plastic wastes dumped in rivers hamper their operations as they  damage their engines and sometime cause accident.
A marine safety officer, Comrade Jumbo Green made this known in an interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt, yesterday.
He alleged that NIMASA whose responsibility is to monitor maritime activities along the waterways and ensure safety at creeks was not proactive enough in its responsibilities.
He lamented that boat drivers found it difficult to navigate their ways along Port Harcourt – Bonny routes due to heap of dumped plastic wastes floating on the water.
Green insisted that most of the boat mishap experienced were caused by wastes in rivers and appealed to the agency to clean up the wastes for easy navigation.
Describing the wastes as environmental pollution, the officer called on the security agencies and NIMASA to arrest and prosecute anybody who dumps wastes in the river.
According to him, “most of the dumped plastic wastes contain chemicals that kill aquatic animals and endanger lives of humans”
Comrade Green called on the marine police and the Nigerian Navy to ensure regular patrol of the creeks, rivers and sea with a view to apprehending defaulters.

By: Chinedu Wosu