The Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (FMHUD), National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), and the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation (OSGoF) have unveiled a unified and transparent framework to strengthen the control and management of Nigeria’s inland waterways and shorelines.
The announcement followed a meeting of the tripartite inter-ministerial technical committee, set up to harmonise procedures for shoreline reclamation applications, allocations, and related regulatory processes.
The committee comprises representatives from FMHUD, NIWA, and OSGoF.
Minister of Housing and Urban Development Ahmed Dangiwa, the Managing Director of NIWA, and the Surveyor-General of the Federation oversaw the establishment of the committee, which focused on improving inter-agency collaboration, enhancing transparency, and safeguarding national interests in managing shoreline and inland waterways assets.
According to the committee, a Standard Application Procedure (SAP) has been approved to guide all shoreline allocations, reclamation requests, and approvals.
Under the new framework, all applications must begin with a Letter of Intent submitted to FMHUD, followed by a joint inspection by FMHUD and NIWA with the participation of the applicant.
Provisional allocations will now rely strictly on survey data validated jointly by the ministry, NIWA, and OSGoF to prevent encroachment into navigational channels, avoid overlapping grants, and protect national spatial integrity.
All existing shoreline grants including active, dormant, or pending ones will be reviewed in line with the new SAP.
Approvals granted previously without evidence of statutory fees have been revoked.
For sensitive areas such as Banana Island, no new approval or extension will exceed jointly established boundaries, with strict compliance enforced.
To ensure efficiency, each stage of the application and approval process is now bound by a 14-day mandatory processing timeline, with clear expiration clauses on Provisional Offer Letters and sanctions for non-compliance.
The committee stated that its resolutions supersede all previous directives, circulars, or guidelines issued by any Ministry, Department, or Agency regarding shoreline and inland waterway management.
The technical committee commended all participating agencies for their cooperation and reaffirmed its commitment to a transparent, coordinated, and sustainable framework for the orderly development and protection of Nigeria’s inland waterways and shorelines.
