The Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has advocated that its members in the Lagos Commercial Private Boat Operators District should be supported with a portion of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) to enable them address some of their operational challenges.
The boat operators’ request was made known by Comrade Abdul Erodje, a member of the association, who also represented the President General of the MWUN; Comrade Adewale Adeyanju on the occasion of the Customer Service Week celebration hosted by NIMASA in Apapa Lagos.
Erodje noted that getting a fraction of the CVFF would enable the union’s to meet some of their operational challenges, including high cost of boats and outboard motor engines, standard life jackets, boat anchors and others.
He said: “We are asking NIMASA to make available a small percentage of the CVFF to be deployed to this area, to enhance the development of waterways transportation in Lagos State and nation wide.”
Likening their demand to that of the indigenous shipowners, Erodje said: “With proper management, this fund so deployed by NIMASA will enable the local boat operators to acquire standard boats to provide internationally accepted inland waterways transportation services to the citizens of Nigeria, just like the indigenous shipowners are going to use the CVFF for standard vessels to compete favourably with their foreign counterparts in that sector, because boats and vessels are all conventional means of transportation.”
He expressed his conviction that the funding of the local boat operators by NIMASA to acquire standard boats would also form part of the local content development drive of the agency.
While the union wants NIMASA to establish search and rescue volunteer groups and take-up their training, it also requested that NIMASA collaborate with relevant stakeholders in the industry to perfect registration of members and training/ certifying them on Power-Driven Small Crafts, ferries, pleasure boats to establish a pool of well-trained workforce that employers can pick from.
The MWUN, Erodje said, was confident that the initiatives would save the industry from the burden of employing untrained boat workers who could pose dangers to other boat operators and passengers alike.
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