The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has called on passengers and boat operators alike to be more concerned about safety on the nation’s waterways, adding that ownership of safety on waterways is very critical.
Managing Director of NIWA, Senator Adeleke Mamora who made this call in Lagos on Monday while commissioning a refurbished boat ambulance, added that boat operators, passengers and everyone have to ‘own’ safety by ensuring that they do what they ought to do either as passengers, as operators or even as observers.
He also added that safety on waterways is very critical for operators, passengers and the general public, even as he urged them not to keep information in terms of what they expect to see as it affects safety of waterways while begging them to spread the good news.
Mamora noted that accidents do happen but was quick to add that what was important was for one to be ready so as not to be caught napping, stressing that even when it happens, there are facilities on ground to cope hence the need of having Boat Ambulance.
The NIWA boss observed that several boat mishaps recorded recently in Lagos, Makurdi, Kwara and other places happened as a result of non-compliance with the inland waterways transportation code.
He however said that NIWA had established from those accidents that there is need for the agency to do more of sensitization, more of education and more of safety awareness campaigns.
"When I say non-compliance, they are things we expect to be in place; that is in terms of what the operators need to do, in terms of what the passengers need to do. For example, we discovered that overloading is a major issue, when a boat that is supposed to carry maybe 20 passengers is carrying 50 passengers. Even the manner of sitting in the boat is also important. The sitting of the passengers is supposed to be balanced so that you don’t have excessive weight on one side of the boat which is very important", he noted.
On safety, he said, “of course, the issue of wearing of life jackets, it is important and then what we have discovered is that in some of the cases, we have fake life jackets. So, one of the things we are trying to do is to standardize and ensure that the life jackets being used are such that are NIWA-certified so that people will not just be using life jackets that will not achieve what it was meant to achieve. We plead with our people particularly the passengers and the operators, don’t sail in the night but again, we discover that often times, people would rather go out at very odd hours at 10.00pm or 11.00pm when the limit is 6.00pm”.
On the boat ambulance being commissioned, he said, "We have before us this Boat Ambulance and just looking at it from here, it looks good and I believe it has all the facilities that should be inside, that I will confirm when I go inside, but I can assure you that we will get more of this so that it is just to let you know that we are listening, we are also trying to do our best and we are seeking the cooperation of everyone because safety issue ought to be owned by everyone”, he concluded
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