For the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Mr Babajide Sanwo Olu, the inland waterways can be better handled by Lagos state than the federal government.
He stated this in Lagos during an interaction with the media while commenting on how to use intermodal system to lessen the burden of land transport system in the state.
According to him, waterways should be an exclusive right of the state and not that of the apex tier of government.
This he said would give room for proper monitoring and to control activities of the waterways effectively.
Sanwo-Olu said inland waterways operations were quite different from what was obtainable from commercial or merchant shipping.
His words:“I believe the Federal Government is sitting on too much responsibilities it should not concern itself with.
“We all say that politics is local, economy too is local. Let us be real, we need to have our boots on the ground.
“We need to understand that when the local economy thrives, it can galvanise and drive the national economy.
He also argued that “revenue allocation formula should be made more favourable to the states.
“The Federal Government does not even know what happens on these inland waterways, yet there is an agency of Federal Government in charge of this
“Some agencies of Federal Government should be controlled by states. They are things states should do.
“The Federal Government for example has an Inland Waterways Authority. I cannot understand why the Federal Government should control Inland Waters. Inland water, from Badagry to Epe, is not the sea or shipping routes.
“The inland waterways are for canoes and passenger boats, for people to make a living.
“These are critical conversations we should be having with ourselves. We must be truthful to ourselves on these issues. Let me say again, I will be for state police and restructuring,” he said.
