Badagry Boat Operators Lament Poor Patronage

The Badagry chapter of the Boat Operators Association, on Monday lamented the poor patronage of their services by passengers, especially tourists to the Badagry Slave Port.
The port, known as “Point of No Return'' was created during the slave trade era between 1500 and 1886 A.D.
Slaves from different parts of Nigeria were shipped to Europe and the Americas from there and they never returned.

The Badagry chapter of the Boat Operators Association, on Monday lamented the poor patronage of their services by passengers, especially tourists to the Badagry Slave Port.
The port, known as “Point of No Return'' was created during the slave trade era between 1500 and 1886 A.D.
Slaves from different parts of Nigeria were shipped to Europe and the Americas from there and they never returned.
Hundreds of Badagry indigenes, tourists, artists, scholars and heritage stakeholders turn out en masse at the site annually to mark the International Day for the Remembrance of Slave Trade and its Abolition.
Mr Micheal Nonayo, the spokesman of the association, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the low turnout of tourists to the slave port had affected their business.
Nonayo said that the popular slave port in Badagry, which usually attracted huge number of tourists to patronise the boat operators was experiencing low turnout of visitors.
“Our business has been affected by the low turnout of tourists to the slave port; hardly will a boat go for a trip in a day.
“It certainly shows that many people do not visit tourists’ sites by this time of the year,’’ he said.
He promised that the association would continue to ensure the safety of passengers and those of the operators even when business was at its lowest.
Mr Peter Olaide-Mesewaku, the Curator at the Badagry Heritage Museum, also lamented the low turnout of visitors at the museum.
Olaide-Mesewaku told NAN that school children were the top on the list of visitors to the museum during their excursions but that they had not started coming.
“Past experiences have made me realise that tourists start visiting the museum by the second month of every year and in no distant time visitors will be trooping in and out of this place.’’