•Operators dare govt
The Lagos State Government has given boat operators and stakeholders seven days to comply with water ways law.
Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General Adeniji Kazeem said the Court of Appeal’s judgment which upheld the government’s power to control inland waterways would be strictly enforced.
Kazeem said the government was pleased with the judgment which he described as victory for resource control and fiscal federalism.
He said despite attempts by some stakeholders to whittle down the effect of the judgment, the government would be “uncowed, unbowed and fierce in protecting the God-given resources and never relent in championing the cause of true federalism in the country.”
Reacting to claims by NIWA that the judgment did not favour the State Government, Kazeem described it as absurd, the plan by Nigeria Inland Waterways Agency (NIWA) to keep on controlling Lagos resources from Abuja despite the judgment.
“Looking at the import of these laws which you can find in the Constitution is that the Federal Government controls maritime and international navigation which is to clear the high seas for international carriers to be able to move freely. In so far as bodies of water within a state do not obstruct those international routes, those bodies of water within the exclusive preserve of the state are left to their control and that is what that Appeal Court judgment affirmed.
“It said clearly that the Lagos State House of Assembly has powers to legislate on its intra-inland waterways and the LASWA Law is very clear about its powers and authority to control boat operation.
“You can imagine that a federal government agency in Abuja intend to control how boat operators operate here. This is just the same thing as saying that the federal government agency should control the buses that ply your roads. If you say you have a right to control land transportation, should you not have right to control water transportation. Secondly, if you have a coastline that is very important to you and then some people are eroding that coastline by unregulated dredging cutting into the coastline, causing flooding, causing environmental nuisance and then you say that an agency that is situate in Abuja should control that, that is absurd. So, on a moral, on a legal, on an economic standpoint, it is not right,” Kazeem said.
Boats, dredging Operators and other stakeholders operating on the Lagos Inland Waterways have dared the Lagos State government, saying it would only comply with all Inland Waterways laws, rules and guidelines set by the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA).
Speaking at a stakeholders meeting organised by NIWA Lagos Area Office yesterday, the state Chairman, Association of Tourist Boat Operators and Water Transporters of Nigeria (ATBOWATON), Chief Wellington Ilori Akingbulu said the association would continue to pay charges to NIWA and not LASWA.
Akingbulu said it was his Association that took NIWA, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) to court over who to pay charges to and the Federal High Court ruled in favour of NIWA.
“It is a clear issue and judiciary has given its judgement. It was ATBOWATON that sued NIMASA, NIWA and LASWA on who to pay tariff to and the Federal High Court gave judgement in favour of NIWA. So, we will continue paying to NIWA,” he declared.