The Lagos Area Manager of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA); Engineer Mu'Azu Sambo in this chat with Shipping Position Daily talked about potentials in water transport business in Lagos state and how the agency is trying to woo more investors. He also told our correspondent; Roland Ekama about the need for Lagosians to patronise water transport system
Can you please tell us your major achievement in the first quarter of 2015?
The Lagos Area Manager of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA); Engineer Mu'Azu Sambo in this chat with Shipping Position Daily talked about potentials in water transport business in Lagos state and how the agency is trying to woo more investors. He also told our correspondent; Roland Ekama about the need for Lagosians to patronise water transport system
Can you please tell us your major achievement in the first quarter of 2015?
One of the major achievements that we have recorded in the first quarter of the year is the public private partnership that we have put in place to facilitate easy movement of water passengers plying the inland waterways of the state. You will recall last year, during a briefing, I talked about the need for operators to have our own facilities (boats) of international standards and as an outcome of that briefing gave rise to some people keying into water transport business vis a viz with the arrival of some investors coming in with sophisticated ferries to do business in Lagos State. That alone is an achievement for the first quarter. These kinds of boats meet up with international best practices, they are of world standards. Again you will recall that there were several cases of incident resulting in deaths that were recorded in our waters in recent times and we decided to carry out intensive research and we found out that one of the critical reasons behind the mishaps is the lack of deploying suitable boats in place and towards the beginning of this year 2015, we were able to identify a certain company called Seacoach Group; who has brought nine boats into Lagos. They acquired a terminal in Ikorodu and NIWA was able to provide a space here for them at CMS, Marina jetty for them. Though it’s a floating jetty, we are able to provide another jetty for them at Victoria Island in order to move passengers from there to Ikorodu. In totality we have three jetties for that company and also the company also ferries passengers from here (Marina) to Apapa. The ferries in question meet international standards, they are comfortable for passengers even though they are smaller in size when compared to the other operators like Texas Connection, but the truth is that those crafts cannot sink because of the mode of construction, they will always float and from what we have witnessed or observed as the case may be, we find out that passengers on water transport in Lagos have increased; which I will say is a major achievement for the first quarter of the year because investors are coming to do business in our waterways and more will come. Remember that all these will lead to job creation and will even lead to revenue generation for the government of the country as well.
Passengers are groaning that water transportation is relatively expensive when compared to other modes of transportation, what is the agency doing in that regards?
This is one question that can best be answered by the operators because, they know where the shoe pinches; maintenance cost is high and they know the cost of providing services to the passengers. They know the cost of petroleum products, they also know the cost of engines and each of the boats have a minimum of two engines, it also has a tank that takes Prime Motor Spirit (PMS) on a daily basis and you will also agree with me that there is fuel scarcity in the country at the moment and the operators are there doing their business despite the situation. How they even get fuel to manage the boats alone is a herculean task, but I will say it is an achievement as far as I am concerned because they are able to assist people to move from one point to another through water transport which as far as I am concerned, is an achievement. Whether it is expensive or not, I think the operators are the ones that will tell you. To run a single boat alone costs a lot and from all I know from the discussion I had with some of the existing operators even before Seacoach Group came on board, they barely make profits at the end of the day. Therefore the fare is a function of the cost of providing that service. You have to look at the number of people employed, who are been paid salary and wages, you have to look at the cost of acquiring these boats and even most of them are even acquired through bank loans at an exorbitant interest rate, again the cost of fuel and maintenance of the crafts is a major determinant; also considering levies payable to government. Our lagoons are very dirty and when the engines move on our waters they pick a lot of debris and in the process wear out in time when compared to a situation whereby the waters are cleaner. This also increases the cost of maintenance for the operators. Maintenance is done normally over the weekends because they don't operate on Saturdays and Sundays. At the end of the day when you add all this cost, the operator may determine the rate he will charge the passengers in order to meet these costs, bring them into margin and decide what the fare will be because it is not a charitable organisation or venture.
But it is the duty of NIWA to ensure that our waters are free from water hyacinth and Debris; how come our waters are still dirty and what is NIWA doing to clear the waterways of the debris on the water?
It is not the responsibility of NIWA to clear debris from the waters, but let me agree with you; but without conceding that NIWA is responsible for ensuring that the waters are clean, but until the attitude of our people change such cannot be achieved. Imagine people pouring debris and all sorts of dirt into the water and you are not there to stop them. You know how debris moves, it can move from Ikorodu to Lagos, so, if people at Ikorodu or Third Mainland Bridge pour dirt in the water and you are here in Marina and before you know it, the dirts are here.
So, it is a cultural thing, you see people standing by the sea peeing inside the lagoon, dumping refuse inside the lagoon. Some of these things are actually supposed to be controlled by government under environmental laws. No matter the laws you have, if people do not change their habits, if peoples’ orientation is not geared towards having a clean environment, there is little we can achieve.
This is a clarion call for all of us irrespective of your status to ensure that we work towards having a clean environment and clean water.
Why is that NIWA did not put up an enlightenment campaign for the passengers?
It is not the passengers that are responsible for the dirt in the lagoon. It is the people that live elsewhere around the lagoon or scattered around that bring the dirt and hurl them into the lagoon and there is no regulatory agency there to stop them. The problem is the recalcitrant attitude among Nigerians.
Let me give you a typical example, in Lagos, every last Saturday of the month is slated for environmental sanitation, how many people actually observe it? People just stay in their houses for three hours and after that, they go out. So, the law is there but what can you do when people decide not to conform and when they decide not to be responsible?
It is a Nigeria problem but when Nigerians go abroad, they queue better than any other tribe or nationality but when you tell them to queue here, they say no; they shout; they will rather create chaos. In spite of all the efforts made to make sure that people cannot just board here without queuing, the other day, I came here and I was addressing them and one guy was just shouting and saying all sorts of things. Though there was congestion, what you need to do is to talk to the appropriate authority instead of just shouting unnecessarily.
What is your agenda for the second quarter?
Agenda setting is always there; we are working hard to surpass the record of the first quarter. We are also working to see more investors coming to invest in terms of providing more boats, cover more locations within Lagos; as you know very well that the areas already covered are CMS, Ikorodu and Victoria Island. There are a whole lot of people coming from Satellite Town into Lagos, Apapa, Coconut, Mile 2 and those areas are not covered yet and it is our dream that those areas will soon be covered. They can only be covered when we have more boats. So, we are looking at achieving that in this quarter, and we are also looking forward to the incoming administration of Buhari that he gives more attention to the maritime sector of the economy, because the maritime sector has tremendous potentials especially now that there is dwindling oil revenue. If the resources in the maritime sector are tapped, a lot of revenue can be generated from the sector.
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