The death of 150 persons in a boat accident in Kwara State was a wake up call for the state government to rework waterways, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE
Sulaiman Abdullahi’s world almost crashed penultimate weekend. Had he not been a good swimmer in his hey days, perhaps, he too, would have been one of the casualties. His 15 year-old son, Usman, a tailor, was not lucky. He died along with so many others.
According to Abdullahi, there must have been between 180 and 200 villagers at the wedding. After the event, at night, they boarded an old dugout boat, big enough to carry them, but barely three minutes after take-off, right in the middle of the river, the boat cut into two, throwing the passengers into the river. Few of the men swam to safety; others, men, teenagers, girls and women, who could not drowned.
At the last count over 160 passengers, young and old, including children who have been recovered, had since been buried along the river bank in what has gone into history books as one of the worst waterways tragedies in recent history.
From Eboti to Ebu and other rural communities in the Pategi area, the rural people alleged massive neglect.
Pategi village Head, Liman Ahmed, said because there was no access road linking the contiguous communities, the people had to use the boat. “There is no road linking Ebu to the two other communities and a permanent solution is to create an access road.
Ahmed confirmed that the number of casualty in the accident was about 180. “We had about 200 passengers in the ill-fated local boat returning home from that wedding. Some of the men among the passengers were able to swim out of the water, while women and children among them drowned.
During his condolence visit to Pategi, (which was about six hours by road to Ilorin, the state capital), the state Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq said no stone would be left unturned in ensuring that the tragedy is the last on the state waterways.
Speaking with reporters after the visit, AbdulRazaq said his government would not only focus on opening up Pategi roads and ensuring that the people were not unduly exposed to developments that could threaten their lives. He announced that he would be approaching the Lagos State Government, to learn how to make its waterways safe for all users.
The National President, Waterfront Boat Owners and Transporters Association of Nigeria (WABOTAN), Babatope Fajemirokun, said the union is determined to prevent avoidable accidents on the waterways.
Fajemirokun vowed to ensure that its members complied with the Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) safety measures.
President, Chartered Institute of Transport Administration (CIOTA) Prince Olusegun Ochuko Obayendo, said it was sad that boat mishaps continued to occur.
For Obayendo, the rapidity of these accidents were reminders of the need to prioritise safety in intermodal transportation, especially the waterways by littoral states.
He called for the strict enforcement of standards by relevant agencies, especially on waterways transportation to make that mode of transportation safe and avoid the needless accidents and attendant deaths on the waters.
Obayendo added that the agencies should prioritise safety and ensure that operators comply to the maximum capacity of boats or water vessels and to ensure that none use the boat except they are properly kitted with a life jacket before embarking on water transportation.
He agreed with AbdulRasaq that fostering stronger partnership with states with states with strong waterways operation presence would afford the state the opportunity to ensure safety on the waterways.
Obayendo explained that CIOTA would continue to explore ways of ensuring that states continue to explore ways of making intermodal transportation safe for users and ensure that no lives is lost needlessly while transiting on any mode in the country.
Last month, the General Manager of the Lagos State Waterways Agency (LASWA) Mr Oluwadamilola Emmanuel had advocated that littoral states adopt the LASWA template to improve water transportation.
Emmanuel wondered why of the 28 coastal states in the country only Lagos has a viable water transportation mode. He urged the states to look improve it.
Calling on the states to adopt the Lagos template, Emmanuel insisted that with over two decades’experience in water transportation, Lagos stands on a very enviable pedestal to offer opportunity for sister states.
Lagos with 24 million population as at last year (Lagos State Bureau of Statistics) has a total road network of 2700km. Its roads host over five million cars and 200,000 commercial vehicles, and a vehicle density of 740 per kilometre, which is clearly above the national average of 11 vehicles per kilometre.
LBS also showed that over 22 million round trips are made daily in Lagos.
With the dominance of road transportation despite the huge population and the attendant effects of the concentration on this mode of mobility, especially as the billions of Naira committed to road constructions, there is no gainsaying that alternative modes of transportation can be explored by the government, just like Lagos is doing.
The LASWA Model
In the 80s, Alhaji Lateef Jakande started a strong intervention in water transportation with the establishment of the Lagos State Ferry Service (LAGFerry). That feat was taken several notches further in the fourth republic by then Lagos State Governor Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (now President), and consolidated by his successors – Babatunde Raji Fashola, Akinwunmi Ambode and Babajide Sanwo-Olu, all of who have continued to massively invest in water infrastructure in Lagos. Despite its small size, Lagos is home to over 10 percent of Nigeria’s total population.
In 2008, the state established the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) regulates and promotes the use of Lagos inland waterways, encourage sustainable investments, and develop lasting waterways solution for the people of Lagos.
The Lagos water transport sector over the years has grown to become a model and a benchmark for inland waterways development in the littoral states in the country.
The creation of LASWA and robust investment by the Lagos State Government have boosted patronage of waterways, high safety standards and increasing reduction in boat accidents and attendant casualties.
Aside the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Lagos State example have shown that other coastal states may need to establish their own agencies to develop, control and regulate their waterways transportation just like the Lagos model.
Like the Kwara State Governor envisaged, the replication of LASWA in the states could mean the duplication of the successes of the authority in those states.
The argument here is that littoral states in Nigeria be allowed and encouraged to set up state-controlled safety, regulatory and development agencies for water transportation. There is therefore no doubt that the following states with potential of water transportation will climb phenomenal and unprecedented pedestals by following the Lagos template through the creation of State regulatory and development agencies or authorities to anchor their water transportation initiatives.
The states are: Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Gombe, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nassarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba and Zamfara.
Mr. Emmanuel said the status quo where NIWA controls inland waterways in the states, is inimical to the development of water transport potentials of the affected states.
For instance, NIWA unlike LASWA does not engage water guards that monitor boat operators and ensure safety compliance at the jetties to the waters in all those states, this might be one of the reasons for incessant boat mishap in those affected states.
Between January 2020 and October 2022, at least 701 persons lost their lives in 53 boat accidents in the country, according to The Punch.
Conversely, since the establishment of LASWA, boat accidents in Lagos have significantly reduced and this has boosted the confidence of riders who now preferred water transportation to road transportations.
Despite the millions of riders recorded annually on water transportation in Lagos, the highest by any state in Nigeria, minimal cases of boat accidents were recorded since the creation of LASWA.
Though the control of the Lagos Inland Waterways and the duplication of regulatory functions have remained a challenge between NIWA and LASWA, the dispute between the two agencies between the Federal and the State Government over the control of the Lagos inland waterways has resulted in a plethora of legal battles. A Federal High Court in Lagos in a suit filed by fishermen in Eti-Osa with suit no: FHC/L/CS/1098/07 affirmed Lagos State Government’s Authority and power to legislate territory of the state inland waterways while stating that the National inland waterways Authority lacked the constitutional power to regulate inland waterways within the state.
A seasoned waterway expert Michael Olatunji said the National Assembly is empowered by the constitution to legislate on any matter on the Exclusive legislative list set out in part 1 of the second schedule to the constitution especially items 29, 36 and 64 which lists items on the exclusive list to include international and interstate waters, adding that there is nothing in the exclusive list that deals with intra-state waterways either in Lagos or any other state.
The absence of the Lagos state intra waterways in the exclusive list means it is automatically a residual item that falls within the legislative competence of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
The above position was reaffirmed by the Court of Appeal in a matter between Lagos State Waterways Authority & 3ors V The incorporated trustees of association of tourist boat operators & water transportation in Nigeria & 5ors (including NIWA) APPEAL NO. CA/L/886/14 where the Court held that the Lagos State House of Assembly is competent to make laws in respect of the intra inland waterways in Lagos State except the intra State waterway declared as international or interstate waterways under item 5 in the second schedule to the National Inland Waterways Act which falls within NIWA’s jurisdiction.
The Lagos State Government owned seven terminals, 14 standard jetties and 29 community jetties, which are being managed by the Lagos State Waterways Authority. About 316 registered ferry operators plies the 28 commercially viable routes on the Lagos Inland waterways and the ridership figure according to LASWA source is hovering around 2 million passengers monthly.
In the last 13 years of its existence, LASWA has invested billions of naira to make the state’s inland waterways navigable all year round, constructed standard jetties/terminals, removed shipwrecks and water hyacinth, channelisation, installation of marker buoys and safety signages on the routes for smooth navigation.
Governor Sanwo-Olu’s massive strides in the investments in water transport infrastructure and services has repositioned LASWA into a model of excellence, whose partnership, NIWA now courts.
Upon assumption of office the governor approved the employment of additional water guards to coordinate safety activities at jetties and terminals, bought two new patrol boats, two jet skis and other safety equipment.
He also approved the establishment of a Search and Rescue Unit, and recently, he commissioned first of its kind Waterways Monitoring and Data Management Center (control room) at LASWA’s Falomo Headquarters.
The state’s Ministry of Health in conjunction with LASWA recently launched the Waterways Floating Clinic, a fully fitted medical ferry that serves as Emergency Floating Clinic on the Lagos Inland Waterways while also attending to the health needs of the riverine communities in Lagos State.
The Lagos State Government through LASWA periodically donates thousands of life jackets to ferry passengers, commercial boat operators, riverine school children in all parts of the state, while also sensitizing the people on waterways safety measures and precautions on a regular basis.
In Nigeria today, Lagos is the only state that has developed a multi-modal transport system having the Road, Rail and Water transport networks linked together, and a transport fare payment system called Cowry card to complement the commuter’s trip experience.
Also, the five-cowry ferry terminal at Falomo Lagos which equally serves as LASWA head office is rated as world class water transport infrastructure. The facility has a car park, floating pontoon, fuel dump, an ATM centre, ticketing area, relaxation spots, a cafeteria, arrival and departure areas among others.
LASWA under various governors in Lagos has become a success and a model worthy of being copied by other coastal states looking for how to boost their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) if they replicate the template, first by creating state-controlled waterways regulatory authorities to attract investment from the private sector that will ultimately lead to efficient waterway transport system and safety of lives of the waterways.
