Perhaps buoyed by the recent court judgement in its favour, the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), has been bestriding the Lagos waters, trying like never before, to stamp its authority on the inland waters. ENYERIBE ANYANWU reports
The recent boat mishaps in Oworonsoki and Festac areas in Lagos where many lives were lost, no doubt, provided the authority another opportunity to wake up from its slumber and take up its responsibility of regulating the nation’s inland waterways. This time, the inland waterways regulator was not intimidated.
Even after the Lagos State government, mourning the loss of its citizens, has been distributing life jackets, preaching and churning out policies and legislations to ensure safety on her waterways, NIWA was not discouraged but has moved further to do more and to ensure safety on the Lagos waters as the ultimate regulator.
Thursday last week, the Authority gathered boat owners/operators, traditional rulers of riverine communities, investors and all stakeholders in water transportation in Lagos to its Marina Jetty/ Area Office in Lagos to unveil its commitment to safety of lives and property on Lagos waters. Curiously, the response from the operators was unprecedented and the ceremony quite impressive. The excitement, the enthusiasm demonstrated by the stakeholders spoke volume regarding where their allegiance truly resides.
“I am sure most people seated here today are aware that regulations for inland waterways is one of the core functions of the Authority, and we have decided to bring the issue to the front burner,” began Hajiya Maryam Inna Ciroma, the NIWA managing director, in her welcome address.
Ciroma said that NIWA started the campaign on safety on the nation’s waterways in order to reach all the stakeholders and encourage them to adhere to safety rules and regulations. She said the exercise would take the Authority to different parts of the country where water transportation is used as a means of transport. “We have visited Malele and Nupeko in Niger State recently, yesterday we visited Igbokoda in
Ondo State and today we are in Lagos State with the same message,” she said.
And what was the message? With the air of federal might, the NIWA boss reeled out the message of the campaign as follows: Please wear life jacket always before boarding a boat or canoe; Boat operators should avoid carrying excess passengers; Any locally made boat that is above 10 years must be replaced; Only trained and certified captains should operate ferries and boats; The standard regulations allow boats/ferries to move from 6am-6pm.
Others features of the campaign include; Consumption of alcohol before and during boat ride is prohibited and should be avoided; All passengers and not only the captains should be safety conscious and alert; All ferries, boats and canoes must be registered with NIWA Area Office in Lagos; Stakeholders on our waterways should not hesitate to bring their complaints or observations to the Area Office of NIWA in Lagos for prompt response, and; Boat operators should avoid over-speeding.
HajiaCiroma enjoined the Lagos boat operators to continue to relate with NIWA the way they have been doing. She also expressed gratitude to them for their support of NIWA.
“Let me also use this medium to reach out to all our stakeholders in Lagos who have been very supportive of NIWA in spite of the differences we have with the Lagos State government.”
Obviously, savouring the recent court decisions in NIWA’s favour, the NIWA boss recalled: “When I visited Lagos as the MD of NIWA close to a year ago, I remember that I promised that we shall dialogue with the officials of Lagos State and if it is not yielding the necessary results, then the law courts are there to adjudicate.
“I am happy to let everybody know that the courts are already giving out judgements of which most of them are in favour of NIWA and Nigerians who are not happy with situations of things and went to court.” She emphasized that federal laws always supersedes state laws and that NIWA Act is a law of the federal parliament and under the Executive Legislative List.
“We shall continue to defer to our law courts for adjudication in areas of disputes and we shall continue to work hard to bring sanity to the inland waterways sub-sector in Lagos,” she affirmed.
Also speaking at the event, a member of NIWA governing board, Capt. NiyiAdeyemo, enjoined all the operators to observe the safety regulations as every accident on Nigeria’s waters immediately becomes headline news internationally. This, he said, gives the world the impression that “we are not serious with water transportation.”
Lending his voice, the general manager, corporate affairs, Mr. TayoFadile, advised passengers in Lagos to always insist on being given life jackets before embarking on boat rides. He said NIWA has introduced passenger manifest and established a Safety Compliance Team that would be patrolling the inland waterways.
The highlight of the ceremony was the distribution of 320 life jackets to 23 associations representing different areas in Lagos and a demonstration on the use of the life jackets. While giving out the jackets to the executives of the associations, HajiaCiroma told them that they would be held responsible for their members and their passengers wearing them or not wearing them during boat rides.
Thereafter, the NIWA Safety Compliance in their boat demonstrated the use of the life jackets on the Marina waters. Cruising on the sea, some crew members in their life jackets threw themselves into the sea in a simulation of an accident. Others inside acted as the rescue team throwing ropes and life lines to them with which they climbed back into the boat after being suspended by the life jackets.
The thrilled stakeholders commended NIWA for organizing the event and for the life jackets donated to them. The President, the Association of Tourist Boat Operators and Water Transport of Nigeria (ATBOWATON), Mr. GaniyuBalogun thanked NIWA for organizing the event which he described as long overdue. He urged the Authority to make it a periodic event.
Mr. Balogun who he is a renowned ferry operator asked NIWA to provide more and more life jackets to all boat operators in the country for passengers use. He also asked NIWA to take the safety awareness campaign to the remote areas via TV and radio.
The ATBOWATON National President urged the government to come up with permanent solution to the problem of waterweeds and wrecks and derelicts on the nation’s waters. To prevent further accidents on the waterways, Balogun appealed to NIWA to provide daily patrol and rescue boats to cover the six waterways divisions of Lagos and other riverine communities in Nigeria. “The patrol team would regulate over speeding, non-compliance with safety rules etc,’’ he said.
The Lagos boat operators are no doubt happy for the court decisions in favour of NIWA going by the warmth and excitement that pervaded the event. All the while, the operators had been complaining about the overbearing disposition of the Lagos State Water Transport (LASTWA) towards them especially the high fees they are meant to pay and other forms of extortions.
Other operators also made further demands on NIWA. They asked for a floating jetty at Oworonsoki and sign posts to help the boat captains to determine the direction of their movement. One of the operators complained that during Harmattan when the weather is hazy the captains miss their directions and find themselves in different destinations.
The National Inland Waterways Act, NIWA is the apex regulatory organ for Nigeria’s coastal and inland waterways as well as some jetties and other loading and discharging facilities within the inland waters.
