The Association of Tourist Boat Operators and Water Transport of Nigeria (ATBOWATON) has expressed its readiness to collaborate with the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) to ensure that frequent cases of boat mishap on the waterways are brought to the barest minimum.
The association said that the decision to collaborate with both the federal and state water agencies is to assure that there is safety on Lagos waterways.
The Lagos state chairman of the ATBOWATON, Alhaji Lawal Babatunde who disclosed this in a chat with newsmen in Lagos, also said that the decision is coming on the heels of the recent clampdown of a jetty in Egbin community, by some concerned groups.
He however said that the clampdown was as a result of the 20 people who boarded a ferry without life jackets and which caused loss of lives, even as he charged the government to desist from using divide and rule pattern on the associations.
He blamed the existence of non-registered jetties as a product of the lack of collaboration between the association and the government agencies.
“If the state and federal governments can work with us, there is no way one could operate a non registered jetty, perform operations outside the normal time members of the association closes for business. If every member of ATBOWATON can close by 7pm and somebody is operating by 9 – 10pm in the night then; it calls for concern”, he noted.
He however said that the number of passengers should be reduced to enhance safety, stressing that the government should build floating jetties along the waterways.
“Because of the recent mishap in Lagos and to enhance safety on the water ways, we as an association has made it mandatory that, all operators should stop carrying overload, boats that can carry 23 persons should reduce to 20 and 12 passengers boat should also decrease to carrying 10 passengers. Government should build floating jetties within the water way areas”, he said.
Babatunde also beckoned on the national leadership of the association led by Engineer Gani Tarzan Balogun to advocate on behalf of the association to the relevant authorities for stakeholders to to be carried along when decisions on the waterways are being made.
“They (government) are supposed to contact the association when they are building new jetties because we are practicing the business and stand a better chance of maintaining water safety and suggestion of the kinds of jetties to be built on our water ways”, he stressed.
In his reaction, the national president, Tarzan Balogun, warned the general public to avoid boarding boats without life jackets and make a mandatory request for it from boat operators.
Tarzan however spoke against night navigation saying that there is no rescue boat by that time.
“There is no signage at that time to show where there is wreck and that there is no signage to even show where the fishermen are, at that time in the night”
“Genuine operator cannot operate at late hours in the night and that is why we are appealing to NIWA and LASWA to work together, so that we can achieve this common goal (safety), because 'when two elephants fight, the ground suffers” he concluded.
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