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Lake Nwonyo Roars Back to Life: Ibi Fishing Festival Draws Presidents, ₦15m in Prize Money, and a Global Spotlight on Nigeria’s Inland Waters
Lake Nwonyo Roars Back to Life: Ibi Fishing Festival Draws Presidents, ₦15m in Prize Money, and a Global Spotlight on Nigeria’s Inland Waters and Water Tourism
By Laraba Haruna | Waterways News | Jalingo
The ancient waters of Lake Nwonyo became the centre of the world on April 18, 2026, as the historic fishing community of Ibi, Taraba State, hosted the grandest edition yet of the Nwonyo International Fishing Festival — a century-old tradition that is fast cementing Nigeria’s inland waterways as a serious draw for culture, diplomacy, and blue economy investment.
From first light, the lakeside buzzed with the kind of energy that only water can generate. Decorated canoes cut elegant arcs across the lake in a colourful boat regatta, while traditional horsemen staged a full durbar on the banks and young swimmers competed in contests that drew roaring applause from thousands of spectators. For a publication dedicated to Nigeria’s waterways, Nwonyo is not merely a cultural event — it is proof that the nation’s rivers and lakes hold untapped economic and diplomatic power.
The festival attracted a roster of dignitaries that underscored its growing international weight. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was represented by the Minister of Tourism. President Dickon Mitchell of Granada attended in person. Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama sent a representative. Elder statesman General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma was represented by Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang. Also present were Senator David Jimkuta and host Governor Agbu Kefas of Taraba State, alongside traditional rulers and stakeholders from across the country.
At the heart of the festival, as always, was the fishing competition itself — the symbolic act that gives Nwonyo its soul. Participants cast their nets into the famed lake in a contest that is as much about identity and heritage as it is about catch weight. This year, the Taraba State Government put up ₦15 million in prize money, sending a clear signal that the state is serious about monetising its waterways assets.
Haruna Saleh Busara took the top prize of ₦10 million after hauling in an impressive 55.5 kilograms of fish. Samaila Yakubu followed in second place with 52.6 kilograms, earning ₦3 million, while Emmanuel Daniel rounded out the podium with 18.2 kilograms and a ₦2 million reward.
President Tinubu, speaking through his representative, described the festival as a mirror of Nigeria’s unity in diversity and a key driver of tourism. He reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to leveraging culture as an economic engine — a message that resonates directly with ongoing national conversations about the blue economy.
Governor Kefas used the occasion to pitch Taraba State as safe, open, and investment-ready, announcing plans to expand the festival’s global footprint. For a state endowed with rivers, lakes, and fertile fishing grounds, the Nwonyo festival is a flagship opportunity to position those waterways as engines of growth rather than mere geographic features.
General Danjuma, also represented, called the festival a symbol of unity in diversity, noting its enduring role in preserving cultural identity and fostering national cohesion. Senator Jimkuta echoed that sentiment, pointing to the economic ripple effects felt by local traders, transporters, and hospitality operators whenever thousands of visitors descend on the lakeside community.
Those economic benefits were visible this year. Markets swelled, boat operators were in high demand, and guesthouses reported full capacity — a microcosm of what Nigeria’s inland water communities can achieve when their natural assets are properly showcased.
The Nwonyo International Fishing Festival has been held for more than a century, evolving from a local Jukun fishing tradition into an internationally recognised cultural institution. Its trajectory is a reminder that Nigeria’s waterways — so often discussed in terms of security threats, oil spills, or flooding — are also sites of living heritage, ecological wealth, and considerable economic promise.
The 2026 edition has placed Taraba State firmly on the global cultural map. But for the waterways community, the larger story is this: when Nigeria’s inland waters are celebrated, managed, and invested in, everyone benefits — from the fisherman hauling his catch at dawn to the diplomat watching from the lakeside.
Adapted from a report by Laraba Haruna
Tinubu Places Hydrography at Heart of Nigeria’s Maritime Agenda — Matawalle
By Okeoghene Onoriobe, Lagos Correspondent
The Federal Government has signalled a renewed commitment to hydrography as a strategic pillar of Nigeria’s maritime development, with the Minister of State for Defence, Dr. Bello Muhammad Matawalle, declaring that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has placed the discipline at the centre of the nation’s maritime priorities.
Matawalle made the declaration on Wednesday in Abuja while receiving the Hydrographer of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of the National Hydrographic Agency (NHA), Rear Admiral O.O. Fadahunsi, who led a management delegation on a courtesy visit to the minister.
Federal Government Reaffirms Support for NHA
In a statement released through his Personal Assistant on Media, Ahmad Dan-Wudil, the minister said the Federal Government remains firmly committed to strengthening Nigeria’s hydrographic infrastructure to support improved marine navigation, defence operations, and ocean-based economic activities.
Matawalle stressed that the National Hydrographic Agency occupies a critical position in Nigeria’s broader maritime ambitions, particularly in the Gulf of Guinea — a zone where overlapping concerns over maritime security and resource governance continue to demand sustained governmental attention.
He noted that hydrographic work underpins the country’s emerging Blue Economy agenda, which seeks to expand maritime trade while ensuring the sustainable exploitation of ocean and riverine resources.
Nigeria Positioned for Regional Leadership
The minister expressed confidence that existing policy frameworks under the Renewed Hope administration have positioned Nigeria to assume a leadership role in hydrography across the West African sub-region. He pledged that government support would be sustained to improve navigational safety, enhance maritime security, and deepen scientific data generation to serve national development objectives.
Rear Admiral Fadahunsi, for his part, commended the minister for what he described as consistent support and visionary leadership. He affirmed the agency’s readiness to work in concert with relevant ministries, departments, and agencies to strengthen intergovernmental coordination and build greater hydrographic resilience. Both parties indicated that the meeting focused on expanding Nigeria’s hydrographic capacity in line with global maritime standards.
Nigeria Watch
For the Nigerian maritime sector, this development carries significant operational implications.
Hydrography — the science of measuring and describing the physical features of navigable waters — is the often-overlooked backbone of safe shipping, port operations, and offshore resource extraction. Without current, accurate hydrographic data, vessels navigating Nigeria’s coastal waters, the Niger Delta creeks, and the nation’s inland waterways do so at elevated risk.
The National Hydrographic Agency, which is mandated to produce and maintain nautical charts covering Nigerian waters, has historically operated with limited visibility in national maritime policy discussions. Its elevation to a stated priority under the Tinubu administration — articulated at the level of the Defence Ministry — signals a more integrated, security-conscious approach to maritime domain awareness.
For port operators, shipping companies, and offshore energy stakeholders, a well-funded and operationally capable NHA translates directly to more reliable navigational data, reduced insurance risk premiums, and safer routing in Nigeria’s busiest sea lanes. For NIMASA and the Nigerian Navy, improved hydrographic coverage strengthens the infrastructure for maritime domain awareness and threat response in the Gulf of Guinea, where Nigeria continues to assert its role as the dominant maritime power.
The blue economy dimension is equally noteworthy. Hydrographic surveys are a prerequisite for viable offshore wind energy development, aquaculture zoning, and the delimitation of maritime boundaries — all areas where Nigeria’s policy ambitions have outpaced technical groundwork. If this stated presidential prioritisation translates into budgetary commitments and institutional capacity-building for the NHA, it could mark a foundational shift in how Nigeria approaches its vast but under-mapped maritime estate.
Stakeholders will be watching to see whether the rhetoric of prioritisation is matched by concrete resource allocation in the next budget cycle.
NIMASA Positions Nigeria as Regional Hub for Digital Seafarer Certification
Agency hosts Gambian officials on four-day knowledge exchange visit
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has taken another stride in cementing Nigeria’s status as a reference point for maritime digitalisation in Africa, hosting a delegation from the Gambia Maritime Administration (GMA) on a four-day study visit centred on seafarer certification systems and regulatory best practices.
The visit, which brought together officials from both West African maritime authorities, underscored the deepening of regional cooperation in building secure, efficient and internationally compliant frameworks for seafarer documentation — an area in which Nigeria has recorded measurable progress under the current administration.
Nigeria’s Digital Credentials on Display
Speaking on behalf of NIMASA Director-General, Dr. Dayo Mobereola, the agency’s Executive Director of Operations, Fatai Adeyemi, framed the engagement as both a diplomatic milestone and a validation of Nigeria’s expanding footprint in African maritime governance.
Adeyemi said NIMASA was pleased to share its hard-won experience in digitalising seafarer documentation and certification processes, observing that the Gambia’s decision to study Nigeria’s model reflected growing international recognition of the country’s progress in maritime administration and human capital development.
“There is always something to learn from one another. Such engagements strengthen regional cooperation and help build a more efficient and globally competitive maritime sector across Africa,” Adeyemi said.
He credited the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, headed by Minister Adegboyega Oyetola, with providing the policy direction and institutional support that has driven NIMASA’s digital transformation agenda in recent years.
Scope of the Exchange
During technical sessions held across the visit, officials from both agencies engaged on the issuance of seafarers’ medical certificates, examination procedures, Certificates of Proficiency, and the anti-fraud measures designed to bolster the credibility and international recognition of certification documents.
The sessions were described as practically oriented, with demonstrations of NIMASA’s digital platforms forming a key component of the programme.
Leader of the Gambian delegation, Falu Sey — who serves as Manager of Ship Registry and Seafarers Affairs at the GMA — said Nigeria was specifically selected because of its track record in maritime development, digital transformation and Blue Economy policy implementation. Sey said the insights gained from the visit would directly inform efforts to modernise maritime administration and improve service delivery standards in Gambia.
Nigeria Watch
For Nigeria’s maritime sector, the Gambian study visit carries significance beyond diplomacy. NIMASA’s emergence as a preferred knowledge partner for peer African maritime authorities represents a dividend of the sustained investment in its digital infrastructure — including the modernisation of its seafarer certification and ship registry platforms that has gathered pace under Dr. Mobereola’s leadership.
The visit also arrives at a moment when NIMASA has been projecting Nigeria’s maritime governance credentials on the international stage. Just days ago, the agency signed a landmark ship registry modernisation partnership with Malta’s flag administration on the sidelines of Posidonia 2026 in Athens — another signal that Nigeria is actively positioning itself within the architecture of global maritime compliance and administration.
For Nigerian maritime stakeholders — from shipowners and crewing agencies to port operators and freight forwarders — the broader implication is that a more regionally authoritative NIMASA translates into stronger bilateral frameworks, more harmonised certification standards across West Africa, and potentially smoother crew documentation processes for Nigerian seafarers operating across the sub-region.
The question the sector will be watching is whether these gains in soft power and institutional diplomacy are matched by continued investment in NIMASA’s domestic infrastructure, including the resolution of longstanding concerns around turnaround times for seafarer documentation at home.
Waterways News | waterwaysnews.ng | Covering Nigeria’s Maritime, Ports, Shipping and Blue Economy
Lekki Deep Sea Port Races Towards Capacity Limit as Phase 2 Expansion Plans Take Shape
Governor Sanwo-Olu signals imminent commencement of next development phase; port MD cites AfCFTA opportunity as expansion rationale
By Okeoghene Onoriobe, Lagos Correspondent | Waterways News | June 12, 2026
Less than five years after receiving its first vessel, the Lekki Deep Sea Port is approaching the ceiling of its installed capacity — a development that Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu described as a testament to the facility’s commercial success, even as it signals an urgent need for further infrastructure investment.
Speaking at the Invest Lagos Summit 3.0, held on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Governor Sanwo-Olu announced that construction work on the port’s Phase 2 development will commence in the near term, positioning Lagos to retain its competitive edge as West Africa’s dominant maritime and logistics hub.
“Within five years, it is moving to Phase 2 because it is almost reaching the full potential of its installed capacity,” the Governor declared, framing the development not merely as aspiration but as an already-funded and progressing project.
AfCFTA Drives Expansion Logic
The Governor situated the Phase 2 push squarely within the continental trade architecture unlocked by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which has created a single market of more than 1.4 billion people with a combined GDP exceeding $3 trillion.
For the Lekki Port management and Lagos State alike, AfCFTA is not abstract policy — it is live commercial pressure. Cargo volumes moving through the Lekki corridor have grown rapidly since the port commenced operations, and its strategic location outside the congestion corridors of Lagos Island positions it as a natural gateway for goods transiting into the Nigerian hinterland and beyond into the landlocked economies of West and Central Africa.
Port MD Endorses Investment Climate
Wang Qiang, Managing Director of Lekki Port, used the Invest Lagos Summit to commend the Lagos State Government’s policy consistency, citing what he described as a stable and forward-looking environment for long-term maritime investment.
He outlined that the Phase 2 expansion would focus on widening the port’s cargo-handling capacity, improving logistics efficiency along the Lekki corridor, and drawing additional global shipping lines and logistics operators into the facility. The expansion, he added, would reinforce Lekki Port’s standing as a premier West African trade gateway under the AfCFTA framework.
What Phase 2 Means for the Sector
For Nigerian port operators, freight forwarders, terminal concessionaires, and shipowners, the Phase 2 announcement carries significant commercial implications. Lekki’s rapid approach to full installed capacity — if not addressed — risks replicating the congestion dynamics that have long afflicted Apapa and Tin Can Island, undermining the port’s core value proposition as a modern, efficient deep-sea alternative.
Timely Phase 2 construction would expand berth availability, deepen draught access for ultra-large container vessels, and reduce pre-berthing waiting times — factors that directly determine shipping line rotation decisions and freight rate competitiveness.
NIGERIA WATCH
The Lekki Phase 2 announcement, if backed by firm timelines and financial close in the near term, could reshape the competitive dynamics of Nigerian port development. Several deep-sea port projects — including the proposed Ibom Deep Sea Port in Akwa Ibom State and the long-discussed Badagry and Olokola facilities — are still at feasibility or pre-construction stages. Lekki’s ability to fast-track a Phase 2 expansion, building on existing investor confidence, Chinese development finance relationships, and operational momentum, gives it a structural advantage over greenfield contenders.
The National Ports Authority (NPA) and the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy will need to align on concession framework adjustments that accommodate Phase 2, including land allocation, access road infrastructure, and potential rail connectivity to the Lekki Free Trade Zone. NIMASA’s role in ensuring that expanded port capacity also translates into cabotage fleet utilisation and Nigerian seafarer employment will equally come under scrutiny as the expansion progresses.
The broader question for policymakers is whether Lekki’s success can be replicated as a model — or whether it remains an isolated enclave of port competitiveness in an otherwise fragmented national port system.
Waterways News | Your authoritative voice on Nigeria’s maritime, ports, and blue economy sector | www.waterwaysnews.ng
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